


The Bachelorette

by buckyscrystalqueen



Series: The Bachelorette [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel AU - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2020-05-16 19:50:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19324933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyscrystalqueen/pseuds/buckyscrystalqueen





	1. Chapter 1

You were actually nervous as you sat and got your makeup done for the first night of shooting your season of the Bachelorette. Sure, you had been nervous as you stepped out of the limo the previous season when you were on the Bachelor, but it was nothing compared to this. This felt like a whole different beast.

“This was a terrible idea.”

“You’re gunna be just fine.” Your make up artist consoled as she finished up with your apparently signature light yet still dark purple lipstick. 

“Five minutes!” One of the many production assistants called out into your room in the mansion. You sighed and looked up into the mirror as Natasha, who had become one of your best friends in the house during the last season and who was now happily engaged to Clint, came in to check up on you.

“Well look at you.” She laughed as she came over and sat down on the counter beside you. “You clean up nice.”

“Why did I agree to this?” You asked her as you fidgeted with the champagne colored, chiffon material of the train of your A-line gown.

“Because you deserve to be loved more than any of us, sweetheart.” You sighed and looked over at her as she stuck out her hand to help you to your feet. “And you know as well as I do that you are a secret attention whore.”

“Oh, fuck off.” You giggled as you laced your arm with hers. “Alright, let’s do this. We can do this.”

“There’s my girl.” She praised as she stopped and let you go so you could walk to the top of the stairs to shoot your intro. “Now you walk down those stairs. Show them stairs who’s boss!”

“You’re an idiot.” You laughed as you put your hand on the rail and simply waited for your stylist to fix your dress just right. You knew you were in for a long night; it had been a long night when you went through this whole process with Clint. You knew that there would be a lot of ‘do it again’, ‘we need more light’, and ‘turn toward the camera’. There would be a lot of scripted moments and a lot of fluff for the viewers… but your season was the one that was supposed to change the whole show’s concept. You were supposed to actually get to spend time with the guys to get to know them as opposed to the brief ‘dates’ once a week you got when you were on the last Bachelor season. Someone had finally listened, apparently, because that was one of your big requirements.

“Do it again!”

“Is it really possible to walk down the stairs wrong?” You huffed as you picked up the end of your dress and turned around to head back up stairs. 

“You know that as well as I do.” Nat called out from her little hiding spot in a laundry room doorway at the top of the stairs as she did her own make up for her very scripted talk to you before the guys got there. “You are horrible stair walker.”

“Shut up.” You grumbled as you held on to the hand rail and waited for your dress to get fixed again.

——

“So these guys are gunna be plants.” One of the producers, Alice, said as she held out a small stack of ‘cheater cards’ that had the prospective bachelor’s faces and names on them as she stood beside you in the mansion’s driveway. “This guy is here to boost his music career. These two are eventually going to get in to a fight on a date, but they have to stay until at least week five for ratings. And this one is going to be your villain. He’s gunna break your heart, blah, blah, blah…”

“God, this is so freaky.” You breathed as you looked at this man, Negan’s handsome face. “Is this what Clint went through with us?”

“Not with all of you. He got a lot more plants, though. Girls meant to be extra bitchy. But guys are naturally testosterone driven so they make our jobs a little easier…”

“Who’s this?” You asked as you stopped on a man that had gorgeous blue eyes.

“You’ll find out.” Alice said as she yanked the cards from your hand. “See, this is what you wanted. Less scripting, more talking, more truth… you choose this. We’re just gunna make it happen, apparently. Welcome to Bachelorette Big Brother. First limo’s coming!” She shouted to everyone on set as she walked away from you. You sighed and looked over at Natasha, who promised that she would stay as you met all the guys outside the house, who gave you a giant nod, telling you that it was all going to be OK.

“OK, OK, OK…” You whispered to yourself a moment after action was called as you fixed your hair and looked over at the gate. You brushed your hands down the front of your dress and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the camera in your face as it got closer to get your reaction. “I’m meeting my future husband today.” You stated, spitting out the lines you had been given by Chris Harrison, earlier that day. “He’s in one of these limo’s. I can feel it…” With another breathed sigh, you kept your eyes focused on the blacked out limo door and you giggled the slightest bit when you heard one of the guys scream your name, which made the rest of the guys in the car cheer.

“Oh, Lordy.”

“First guy!” Alice said into her walkie to the camera man and his assistant in the first vehicle. You smiled genuinely when a very tall, very muscular, tattooed, long haired, Hawaiian with gold eyes stepped out of the car.

“E nānā pono i ka wahine nani e kū nei i mua oʻu.”

“Oh, I like that.” You laughed as you reached out to take the white and pink Polynesian flower from him.

“Arthur. And I look forward to being the reason I get to see that stunning smile every day.”

“Oh! Oh, thank you!”

“See you inside, maikaʻi.” You nodded your head as he leaned down and kissed your cheek before heading inside. You lifted the flower to cover your smile and watched him walk inside with a small giggle.

“Shit, I’m in so much trouble.” You teased as you turned back around to look at the limo.

“Keep rolling!” Alice called out as your temporary assistant, Danielle ran over to take the flower from you. “We’ll cut in post!”

“This is trouble.” You joked as you looked over at Natasha. She nodded her head and pointed you forward as your make up artist darted out to get a little shine off your nose.

“Alright, next guy!” You looked back at the car and smiled as the second guy, one of the ones that was getting in a fight, Thor, got out of the car in an obviously ripped, sleeveless suit.

“I just knew you were gunna so sweet you’d blow me away.” He joked as he pulled a small fan from his pocket. You startled when he turned it on and held it up behind his closed fist, but laughed when sprinkles and not glitter flew toward you.

“Oh, that’s really cute!”

“I’m Thor. And I can’t wait to get to know you.”

“I can’t either.” He gave you a small wave and headed inside as you brushed a couple sprinkles off your gown. “Man, I thought that was going to be glitter and I had a small heart attack. Thank you.” You moved your hands out of the way for your stylist to help as the production team came running over to sweep up the sprinkles on the floor.

“You’re doing great.” Natasha said as she ran over with a bottle of water just to give you a little motivation.

“Girl, did you see that first guy’s eyes?”

“You’re a lucky girl.” She said with a smile. “You want me to stick around and see the rest?”

“Go home to Clint.” You said as you leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I got this. Love you.”

“Love you, too. See you when you fall in love.” You smiled at her and nodded your head as Alice shooed everyone off the ‘set’ to go back to filming. You sighed and cracked your knuckles as you got ready to meet the rest of the bachelors. As the hours went on, names were thrown at you left and right, making it next to impossible for you to keep them all straight.

“Chibs.” “Bruce.” “Sam.” “Nick.” (in a silly St. Nick costume) “Jax.” (And his sexy motorcycle.) “Steve.” “Lex.” “Sam.” “Cas.” “Jimmy.” “Clark.” (and his Superman tie to play off his name.)

Your head started to spin around this point as you did your best to try to come up with some way… hell, any way to keep all these handsome men straight in your mind.

“Rick.” “Tony.” “Dean.” (who had trouble written all over him.) “Juice.” “Loki.” “Peter.” “John.” “Negan.” (who you recognized from his photo card.) “Abraham.” “Happy.” (who actually kinda scared you.)

At this point, your toes started going numb from the chilly night air, and the shoes that were now painfully tight on your poor toes. You were pretty sure that you had at least fifty layers of lipstick and mascara on as well and you were starting to wonder how hard it was going to be to get all of that off.

“Charles.” “Daryl.” “Shane.” (who looked like a straight up sleaze ball.) “Gabe.” (who looked like the jokester part he was sent in to play.) “Opie.” “Glenn.”

“Alright, last one.” Alice called out once Glenn had made his way into the house. You had to do a double take when finally, the last man got out of the car. You smiled at him and tried not to show more emotion than would be required to just meet someone as he searched your eyes with the stunning baby blues you had been waiting for.

“I don’t have anything funny to say and I don’t have some grand entrance to impress you with.” He said softly as he pulled something out of his pocket. “But I do know that I study stars for a living… and your eyes when you smile are brighter than any star in the universe.”

“Oh, wow.” You gasped as he rested a small, crescent moon shaped necklace with a black rock hanging in the middle of it on his palm. 

“I may have broken some laws to get this… but it’s a rock from the moon that I may or may not have snuck out of some top secret warehouse in Houston.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” You admitted honestly as you brushed your fingertip across the stone. “Will you help me?” He nodded his head as you pulled your hand back and turned your back to him. You barely noticed a camera woman come running closer as you moved your hair out of the way so he could put the necklace on for you. You had to wonder if this exact moment is why your stylist refused to give you a necklace, but as he brushed his fingers down your back, sending a shiver down your spine, you stopped caring. 

“I’ll see you in there, (Y/N).”

“Wait…” You said as you spun around and grabbed his arm. “What’s your name?”

“Bucky.” With a smile and a small bob of your head, you let his arm go, and stood on your tip toes to kiss his cheek.

“Thank you, Bucky.” He gave you a small smile and headed inside to join the rest of the group.

“Is he your Prince Charming?” Alice asked with a giant smile, referencing something you used to say a lot when you were on the Bachelor season, as she came up beside you for a confessional interview. “Do you think your Prince Charming is in there?”

“Oh, I know my Prince Charming is in the mansion.” You confirmed with a smile as you thought about the six or seven guys that really stood out in your mind. “I know he is… and I know he will treat me like a princess, too.”

——

“So you’re actually from Smallville, Kansas.” You clarified with a smile as you sat on a couch on the back patio by the pool. “And your parents actually named you Clark Kent.”

“They had a twisted sense of humor, yes.” Clark laughed as you let go of his tie and rested your hand on his on your knee. “Elementary and middle school were not fun.”

“Let me guess. In high school you filled out a bit and people stopped picking on you?”

“Captain of the football team, prom king… Which wasn’t as easy part to play, either. The expectation of being perfect all the time is a little suffocating.”

“I can relate. I came from a very studious family. Vets, engineers… and then there’s me, who wanted to be an animator. The pressure was real.”

“I followed the namesake. I became a journalist instead of staying on the family farm.”

“For the Daily Planet?”

“For the New York Times.” He corrected with a handsome smile and a laugh. “But I will give you points for knowing your comics.”

“I have two brothers. It was almost mandatory in my house.”

“Sorry…” You looked up at Jax with a smile as Clark pulled his hands away. “Think I could steal you?”

“Sure, absolutely.” You looked back over at Clark with a slight pout and pat his knee as the camera’s moved around you. “Find me again, OK? I wanna show off more of my comic book knowledge.” With a slight bow of his head, he stood up and gave Jax his seat, which would have made him the sixth guy to sit down in about an hour, and the fifteenth (maybe sixteenth) guy you spoke to that night.

“We need a different location.” Jeff, another producer, said before Jax could even sit down. “But we want you to walk over here…”

“Of course you do.” You sighed as you bent down, and grabbed your half empty champagne glass.

“You having fun yet, darlin’?” Jax chuckled as he offered you his hand.

“It’s a lot to take in.” You giggled as you laced your arm with his. “Like you were the one with the motorcycle, right?”

“I was. I own a garage out in California that does custom work on motorcycles.”

“I have actually never been on a motorcycle.”

“Oh, it’s an adrenaline rush.” He told you as the producers started writing a note behind you, feverishly. “I’ve been riding since before I even had my license.”

“Better be careful. I’m pretty sure there’s a cop floating around here somewhere that may write you a ticket.”

“I dare him to try.” You smiled up at the handsome blond when the sound of your name caught your attention. You paused and looked over at a group of guys sitting in a gazebo, talking a little loudly, and probably slightly over drinking since it was nearly three-thirty in the morning and there was nothing better to do.

“It’s just a music career bounce.” You heard one of the guys say and even though you were expecting it, you were still caught off guard. “Hot woman on my arm. It’s perfect.”

“I’m sorry?” You called out as you let go of Jax’s arm and walked the few steps over to the group. “A pretty woman on your arm… that’s all I am to you? A conquest to be won; a prize given to the highest bidder?”

“That’s not what I meant…” Gabe said as he stood up and turned the slightest bit so that he forced you to turn more toward one of the four camera’s around you. “I just meant that falling in love with you would… um… well it would give me more material for music… you know like a muse?”

“Wow.” You said with a small nod of your head as you tapped your finger against your champagne flute. “Well here, let me be a good muse and give you your first song title. You can call it ‘The night the Bachelorette sent my ass home for being a money hungry low life’. My guess, it’ll win a Grammy. You can leave now.”

“Oh, damn!” Negan said a little loudly as Alice shot up from behind the monitor she was looking at.

“Please tell me we got that!”

“Got it here.”

“Here, too.”

“Bad light over here but I got audio.”

“OK, seriously, can I just walk away now?” You asked in annoyance as you looked past Gabe at your producer. “I just need a fucking minute.”

“Go, go.” She agreed as she snapped at a camera man and pointed after you. “Go with her. Someone get Cara out front!” With a shake of your head, you said a quick apology to Jax and headed toward the pool to just get a moment of space.

“Oh, Jesus I can’t do this.” You sighed in sheer exhaustion. Tears welled in your eyes as you sat down on one of the pool lounge chairs, and rested your head between your hands. You were grateful for waterproof mascara but you still quickly looked up when your tears started to fall so that they wouldn’t stain your dress.

“What are you thinking, (Y/N)?” Alice asked as she sat down beside you with an iPad monitor in her hand and a camera beside her.

“This is exhausting.” You gasped as you looked over at her. “Just exhausting. I feel like I’m just in a hamster wheel, just running, and running, and running, searching for a result that is never going to show up for me. Was this a waste of time? Huh? Was I just… not meant to be loved?” You looked over and searched the producers eyes for a moment, giving her the shot she wanted for a moment before you simply shook your head. “I need you to go away now.”

“OK.” She said softly as she turned off the screen. “We’re going.” You nodded your head, and turned on your seat to look away from the house for a moment of peace and quiet. With a heavy sigh, you ran your fingers through your hair and looked up at the sky, sending out a small prayer to whoever was listening that you really did find love after everything you had been through.

“Do you know what the brightest star in the sky is?” You sniffled and looked up at those stunning blue eyes as Bucky stopped beside you with two glasses of champagne in his hand. “Well, that’s kind of a trick question I guess you could say. Technically, that answer is…”

“The sun, right?” He huffed and nodded his head as you scooted over on the chair and took your glass from him.

“That’s correct. But the next brightest star would be Sirius. Yes, like the Harry Potter character.”

“How do you know me so well already?” You teased as you wiped off your cheeks with your finger tips.

“You have a lightening bolt tattoo on your middle finger. I saw it when you moved your hair back. And I also saw this…” Your smile grew as he gently reached out, turned your wrist toward him, and moved your bracelets out of the way. “Disney, right?”

“You either have kids or know kids.” You said as you looked at the small, water color, Minnie bow on your wrist.

“One niece, one nephew. But I will confess, my sister watches the Bachelor and the Bachelorette religiously so I know a little bit more about you than I should probably let on.”

“Well then I’m at a disadvantage here. But let me ask you this because I’m genuinely curious. Why space?”

“Simple answer. I was the oldest of two, and we grew up in a one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn.”

“Wow. OK, I think you took the needing space thing a little too seriously.”

“Hey, go big or go home.” You took a sip of your drink and studied him with your eyebrow raised for a moment before pointing him with a small smirk.

“So you would know the real truth on why Pluto was demoted.”

“Oh, now that I’m taking to my grave.”

“Oh, that’s not fair!” You laughed as the camera crew finally caught up to you to get some better footage than they were getting from the pool cameras behind you. “You are cheating!”

“That is some super top secret information though!” You threw on a major pout and he glanced over at you for a moment before sighing. “Alright fine. But if you tell anyone, I’ll lose my job.”

“I swear.” You giggled as you scooted closer to him, honestly not seeing the camera in front of you at all.

“Well, you know how they say size doesn’t matter? Well in the case of plants, it does. In 2005, we found another dwarf planet that was bigger than Pluto so it got demoted.”

“Shoulda promoted the dwarf planet.”

“Wasn’t my call.” He said with a shrug. “I would have left it a planet.”

“Well, we should start a petition. The space guy…”

“Astrophysicist.”

“And the Bachelorette. Here’s to reinstating Pluto, and adding this other dwarf planet that I’m calling Grumpy because he’s my favorite and I feel like this new planet would be a Grumpy. Plus, it works with that nemonic phrase thing I learned in like middle school.”

“Which one? I think I know like six.”

“My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas. All you’d have to do is add a g before the pizza…”

“After. Eris… well Grumpy is after Pluto.”

“You know what, quit bursting my bubbles.” You laughed as you playfully pushed his arm. “I’m mad at you.”

“No, don’t be mad!”

“Actually… stay here for me.” You handed him your glass, and stood up as his head whipped up toward you.

“Wait, you’re not that mad, are you?”

“No, just stay here. I promise, I’m coming back.” He nodded his head and watched you walk away quickly, dodging cameras and crew on your way up to the house. You told two guys to just hold on for you as you walked past to grab the first impression rose off the tray Chris had brought in a couple hours before. You quickly made your way back out to the patio, now with a few bachelors behind you as well to see who was getting the rose.

“No, stop.” Bucky said as you headed back down the path with a smile.

“Bucky… will you please accept this rose?” He smiled broadly and nodded his head as you sat back down on the lounge chair. 

“Absolutely.” You leaned forward and carefully pinned it on his lapel before looking up at him. You reached out very gently and cupped his jaw in your fingertips.

“You make me forget the cameras are around.” You whispered so softly so that only he could really hear it.

“What cameras? All I see is you.” He put his hand on your hip and leaned forward to kiss you gently, making your whole body melt in a way it never had before. You pulled away with a smile and looked up at him as Alice radioed in to any camera crew looking for you for the rose ceremony.

“Trust me.” You whispered against his lips as you used the heel of your palm to block your lips. “Trust me.” He barely nodded his head, but just enough that you noticed before you pulled back to go get ready. With one final glance at him, you grabbed your glass, and headed inside to find your make up artist so she could touch up your make up for the millionth time that night.

——  
Men who got roses on night one in order:

Bucky, Charles, Daryl, Chibs, Juice, Clark, Nick, Sam Wilson, Negan, Jimmy, Thor, Arthur, Peter, Rick, Sam Winchester, Bruce, Steve, Cas, Opie, John, Jax, Loki, Shane, Dean.

Men who went home:

Happy, Tony, Abraham, Glenn, Lex, Gabe.


	2. Chapter 2

“OK, so I actually really, really like this idea.” Alice said as she rode with you in the back of the limo on the way over to the mansion for your first group date. “Since you drew that really great picture of Clint last season, we’re gunna do Painting with a Twist.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that.” You said as you looked up from the photo flash cards you were skimming over since it had been two days since you had seen the guys. “You like bring your own wine and they walk you through a picture.”

“Yep, and today, we’re gunna pass out the rose for you.”

“Of course you are.” 

“It’s gunna be a couples set so you’ll draw one side and they’ll do the other. The guy that matches up the closet will win.”

“So we’re judging these guy’s husband material on their art skills alone?” You asked a little sarcastically as you waved your hand at your hair stylist so she would quit fussing over you for a moment.

“No.” You cocked your eyebrow at her as she simply looked down at her phone.You rolled your eyes, not liking this aspect of the date what so ever, and looked out the window at the sprawling mansion’s property.

“What part of this do I honestly have a choice in?” You asked, while instantly wondering how many other leads had asked this same question.

“It all depends on your choices.”

“That makes absolutely no sense. Does that make any fucking sense?” You asked your hair stylist as the limo stopped a little ways from the house to let the crew out.

“I stopped asking questions six seasons ago, sweet pea.” With another sigh, you sat back in your chair and waited for direction on what your grand entrance was going to be while everyone else got out of the car. Alice was the last one out and she sat down beside you and shut the door for a moment of privacy between the two of you.

“Look, this isn’t an ideal way to date. We get that by now. But we also run a TV show. We have fans that expect things to run a certain way, who love guessing, and betting, and whatever the hell else they do while you figure out who you want to fall in love with. Now I’m not stupid. I can already guess who’s going to be the final four just by the film I’ve seen before. I usually can; I have been doing this for seven years, after all. But I still have a quota to fill. And I know that you want to spend all your time with Bucky, or Clark, or Chibs because I know when you really get to talk to him, that accent is going to melt your soul which is why we picked him for you. 

But I also know there are twenty-two other guys that need some of your time, too, whether you really like them or not. At the end of the day, I have a show to put on. So yes, if you continue to pick the same guys over and over again and if you spend all your time with a half dozen of them, we will have to intervene. That’s the nature of the beast you signed up for. So please, make my job easy and don’t fight this. I will make sure you get what you want out of this. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Now, we’re gunna back you up out of the drive way while we get the guys for the first date out front. When we’re ready, I want you out of that sunroof with a giant smile on your face, and I want you to put on a show or I will make you do it again, and again, and again until your cheeks are hurting so bad you want to punch me, and I get what I want. Can you do that for me?”

“Yea.” You agreed with a nod. “Yea, I can do that.”

“Good.” She threw open her door and signaled for your handler, Marco, to get back in the car beside you to wait so you didn’t get any ideas about running in your aggravation. He pulled the door closed, and watched Alice walk away before he glanced over at you with a slightly mischievous grin. He picked up your mic pack and flipped it off as he leaned toward your side.

“I may or may not have been the one to pass notes between Clint and Natasha. But if that were to happen, you’d have to shred them and flush the pieces down the toilet immediately because you will get caught. I’ve seen it happen before.”

“Get caught with what?” You said as innocently as possible as you watched the driver smirk as he backed out of the driveway. 

“But you have to play their game, or I stop. And do not say anything about it because it will get picked up by the mics.”

“I won’t!” You said quickly as you nodded your head, frantically. “I won’t, I swear it. And it’ll be the best damn season they’ve ever seen, I promise.” He gave you a quick nod, flipped the mic back on, and set it back down on the bench beside you. You tapped his leg and mouthed ‘thank you’ and he gave you a small nod and held up his finger to his lips. A giant smile spread across your face as his radio crackled to let you know that you were starting to film.

“Go get ‘em, sweetheart.” Marco said as he hit the button for the sunroof and helped you stand up in the small space. You smiled broadly, feeling a whole new hope for this journey, and waved at your suitors as the limo drove up the driveway to pick them up. After what you had just been told by Alice, it didn’t surprise you that Bucky wasn’t amongst the group, and you forced yourself to keep your disappointment off your face. When the care came to a stop, you blew them all a flirty kiss and leaned against the side of the roof with your arms crossed.

“You boys ready to get a little messy today? I really wanna get a little messy with some handsome gents.” The group cheered for a moment as Alice, who had planned on cutting before that, simply nodded her head in approval.

“Alright. I think that’s a good cut. Let’s move on.”

——

“I love finding guys who are secret artists deep down.” You teased as you looked back and forth between John’s painting on your left and Steve’s on your right. John looked over at you and flushed the slightest bit but didn’t say anything while Steve simply shrugged.

“I actually draw a lot. It’s a peaceful way to destress after a long day.”

“It’s absolutely one of my favorite forms of self care.” You agreed as you glanced over your shoulder at Jimmy, who was struggling with the reflection of the sunset in the water of the ‘Romance on the Beach’ photo. “Can I show you something?” He looked over at you and nodded as you pulled your stool up beside his, which made the camera’s come running. “Don’t think too much. Painting isn’t about thinking, it’s more of a feeling. So when you close your eyes and think of the sun on the waves, what do you see? Straight lines or waves?”

“Waves.”

“OK.” You said with a nod as you put your hand on his and got some blue paint on his brush to help balance out the blunt lines. “So think spaghetti noodles. Little curves like a breath of air.” He nodded his head as you guided his hand to help soften his half of the painting that would eventually match up with yours.

“How do you do that?” He asked as he looked over at you. “How do you see art like that?”

“I just… I let go. I don’t think about the bigger picture, I just pull up small details of the scene in my mind and work off that. Like the imperfections of the waves, the natural jaggedness of a mountain range. Clouds don’t follow any sort of path… and all of that is just like humanity. We’re all different, there’s no straight line of normality. Like life, art is not uniform. But like art, all life is beautiful.” He looked over at you with a smile and set his paint brush down.

“You are so beautiful.” You smiled and welcomed his very chaste, nervous kiss. The teacher ‘aww’ed’ softly as some of the crew tittered under their breath about the shot.

“Hey, do I get a private lesson?” Shane yelled out from the other side of the table from your canvas. “My mountain needs a little love, too.” You forced yourself to not visibly cringe as you turned back around and grabbed your stool.

“Give me a second and I’ll take a look.” He laughed and went back to painting as you quickly excused yourself to use the restroom.

“I want him gone.” You whispered to Alice on your way past. “Please. Please.” You looked up and searched her eyes, silently begging her to help you, and she nodded her head subtly as she looked at Shane, incredulously.

“One more group date with him. We’ll get him out, OK?” You nodded and quickly continued on to the restroom for a moment to yourself. You sighed to yourself and leaned back against the door before a shutter rolled down your spine. 

“So gross.”

——

“So, are you ready for some fun?” Jax asked (for the third time) as you walked up to him and his borrowed motorcycle.

“Are we going for a bike ride?” He nodded his head and stood up off the Harley to hand you the spare helmet.

“Do you trust me?” You smiled and nodded your head as you took the helmet.

“I trust you.”

“Good. Here, let me.” 

“Such a gentleman.” You giggled as you took a step toward him and moved your hands out of the way.

“Oh, I’m no gentleman.” He teased as he buckled and tightened the strap. “I’m a rebel with a cause.”

“My kinda guy.”

“Much more fluid!” Alice yelled as Jax got on the bike. “Mic pacs!”

“So I’m just gunna take off and whisk you away.” Jax teased as you turned off his mike pack and disconnected the battery. “So that we can actually have a conversation that doesn’t have to be repeated seventeen times.”

“You kinda get used to it by week four.” You laughed as you handed over your battery packs so they wouldn’t get broken. “Well… that’s a lie. It’s annoying all the time.” He smirked and offered you his hand so that he could help you get on the bike.

“OK, just keep riding up the PCH as long as you want. We’ll let you know when you pull over.”

“Sure.” Jax said with a shit eating grin as he pushed the ignition button. “Sound great.”

“Don’t make us chase you!” Alice snapped as she headed over to the SUV she would be riding in. “I’m serious.”

“Just don’t get me killed.” You laughed as you wrapped your arms around Jax’s waist.

“I won’t, darlin’.” He promised as he pat your crossed arms as the camera guy gave him the sign to leave. “Hold on.” You nodded and rested your chin on his shoulder as he kicked up the kickstand, and pulled out of the hotel parking lot that you were supposedly staying at after one of the three SUV’s. You could almost feel him shaking in his annoyance as he drove at a slow pace behind the car.

“Breathe, sweetheart.” You said in his ear before kissing his neck. “They’ll let you open up in a bit. This won’t make for good television.” He sighed and nodded his head as he glanced over at you.

“I wish I could take you on a real ride.”

“I know you do.” You agreed as you brushed your hand across his stomach, reassuringly. “One day.” It thankfully didn’t take the crew long to get whatever shots they wanted before they gave Jax the go ahead to actually ride. He pulled on to the Pacific Coastal Highway and brought the bike up to the speed limit, which was the crew’s requirement for your date that day. You couldn’t help but laugh as you let yourself enjoy the ride, and you could feel your date relax with you. You squeezed his hips with your knees and very carefully stuck your arms out to the side. 

“It’s like I’m flying!” You yelled over the wind as Jax very carefully maneuvered through traffic with the crew behind him. You closed your eyes and sighed, contently as he looked into the side view mirror at you for a moment. He waited until he was at an exit and pulled off, which made your brow furrow the slightest bit. The camera crews scrambled out of the SUVs as Jax turned off the bike and twisted in his spot.

“You are just too adorable not to kiss right now.” Your smile grew as he unbuckled both your helmets, cupped your jaw in his hand, and kissed you. Your stomach stomach flipped and started to flutter as you reached up and tangled your fingers in his blonde hair. He pulled away after a few moments with a final chaste peck, and gently put your helmet back on your head. With a nod, he buckled the strap and let Alice know he was gunna take you for a ride a little while longer.

“You have to be back to get ready for dinner no later than three-thirty. Crew needs a break.”

“Yes, ma’am.” You and Jax said at the same time.

“Alright, go on. Stay within sight of us, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am!” You shouted over the roar of the bike.

“Hang on, darlin’!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Alice shouted as Jax pulled out into traffic and raced down the road toward an intersection to make a U-turn. You burst out laughing as he stopped across the road by the on ramp with a giant smile as Alice stood in front of the SUV, glaring. “Knock it off!”

“Ooo, you’re in trouble!”

“I like to keep it interesting.” He laughed as he revved the engine and pulled onto the ramp after the first crew vehicle. You nodded in agreement and hugged him a little tighter as you realized that this was something you could absolutely get used to… and that Jax was absolutely someone you could get used to doing it with.

——

“So you own a garage.” You clarified as you sat at the table, looking at Jax, who looked so totally uncomfortable in his nice outfit on this one on one date. It was almost like he was a completely different person than he was that morning.

“I inherited it when my dad passed away. Motorcycle accident.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.” He said with a nod, letting the conversation fall to silence once again. You looked over at Alice for some kind of help and she subtly shrugged so you looked back at your date.

“Do you like build bikes from the ground up? Or do you just fix them?”

“We do a little of both. Usually we just do a lot of fixing bikes and cars.” You nodded and waited to see if he would go on but he didn’t.

“Jax, am I doing something wrong here? What did I do for you to go from having a great morning to you barely saying anything to me.”

“OK, I’m not this guy.” He said as he reached up to pull off his tie. “I don’t do the whole fancy dinner bullshit, and I don’t do small talk for the sake of doing small talk. I live my life to the fullest. I learn about my girl through pillow talk after some mind blowing sex. On the weekends, I go out with a bunch of guys and go for long rides to nowhere in jeans and white kicks. I can try to be this guy for you but it’s not me.” You actually were completely lost for words as he simply got up and walked away, leaving his tie on the ground behind him.

“What just happened?” You asked as you looked over at the crew. “What do I do?” Alice shook her head for a moment, completely blind sided as well, before Jeff pushed her aside, and pointed down the path.

“Go after him!” You nodded and jumped to your feet so you could chase after him.

“Jax!”

“Look, this was a terrible idea.” He said as he stopped beside the parking lot and whipped around toward you. “You are not the kinda girl that I’m ever gunna truthfully bring home. You’re gorgeous, sure. But I can tell just by looking in your eyes that your world and mine are two wildly different things.”

“Jax…”

“Look, I’m sorry.” He interrupted before you could really say anything else as he pulled off his microphone and handed it to you. “Sorry I wasted your time, sorry I took a spot from someone else… sorry I pretended to be someone I’m not to essentially get in your pants at the end of the day. Good luck, (Y/N).” You stood, completely stunned, watching him simply walk away.

“He just abandoned you.” Cara the tear wrangler said purposely as she yanked the camera around to face you. “Left you here all alone.” Almost on queue, you started to hyperventilate as your sanity temporarily crumbled around you.

“He just left.” You gasped as you grabbed the handrail beside you as fear and doubt started to snuff out your hope for love. “Did I do something wrong? Was it me?” You looked over at Alice and shook your head as you handed her Jax’s mic. “I’m just not right for anyone, am I? Not Jax, not Clint. I’m just a meal ticket to that… that music guy…”

“Gabe.” Alice filled in for you so she’d have the line.

“I’m just a meal ticket for Gabe.” You gasped as you wiped at your tears. “I can’t do this… I can’t…” You tossed your hands up and turned on your heel to walk away. You followed the same path back toward the table of untouched food and headed past it toward the bathroom. Your mind started to run wild and you instantly went to wondering which of the men was going to rip out your heart even more. You heard the door open as you locked yourself in the stall and you knew that it was just Alice and Cara coming to get you to cry more.

“(Y/N)?”

“Is he one of them?” You asked as you put down the toilet seat and sat down. “Alice… Please… is he one of them?”

“He wasn’t one of them…”

“No, Bucky!” You nearly shouted as you looked up at what you could see of her through the stall door. “I am walking away now if he is!”

“He’s not.” She said as she leaned against the wall. “I promise, he’s not.”

“What if he doesn’t like me either?” You sobbed as you grabbed some toilet paper to wipe your nose. “What if none of them see me as someone they can have in their life? That has to be the reason why I’m still single at my age! I’m just pathetic.”

“Sweetie, you’re not pathetic.” Cara cooed as Alice checked to make sure your audio was still being received. “You are perfect…”

“Then why did he just say I can’t fit into his world, huh?”

“Because he’s an idiot, sweetie.”

“What if no one thinks I should be in their world? What if… what if…” You shook your head and gasped to try and catch your breath, but you felt like you were suffocating. “Get me out. Get me out of here. I can’t… I can’t…”

“Ok, (Y/N) open the door.”

“I can’t.” You choked as you tried to find the zipper of your dress so you could breathe. “I can’t… breathe.”

“Go, go.” You shook your head as Cara crawled under the stall door and stretched as far as she could to slide the lock. Your producer scrambled to unzip your dress while she sent Cara out to grab the set medic and you simply continued to sob in the bathroom stall. “OK, OK. It’s all OK, now.”

“I wanna go home!” You sobbed into her shoulder. “I don’t wanna do this anymore!”

“OK, we’re just gunna worry about you breathing first.”

“I wanna go home…” She nodded her head and sat back on her heels as the medic came in with his bag and a small oxygen tank.

“OK, deep breaths. Deep breaths.” You shook your head and valiantly tried to calm down but it wasn’t working. “(Y/N), if you don’t calm the fuck down, I’m gunna have to send you to the ER.”

“I want Tasha.”

“OK, I’ll call Natasha.” She said as she pushed your hand and the oxygen mask toward your face. “You keep that on, and I’ll call Natasha.” You nodded your head and tried to cover your face as Alice stood up and looked at her assistant, Michelle. “Just call her. Call her.”

“I just want to be loved…” You sobbed as your mind started telling you that not even Bucky would love you after this show. “I just want to be loved.” Your breathing started to slowly level out but your tears and fears still flowed freely. You didn’t even know why you were this upset about losing Jax or if that was even the reason you were really crying in the first place. It wasn’t like you felt that immediate connection you felt with Bucky and it wasn’t like you had had that little flutter in your heart the way you did with Clark, or the taller Sam. You didn’t want to jump his bones like you did with Arthur, or Opie… he was just kinda there. But something about him saying that you wouldn’t fit in his world that made you question yourself and the journey you had signed up for. 

“Hey, hey…” Natasha said as she ran into the bathroom, while trying to clip a mic pack to her sweat pants. “Look out, I’m here.”

“I can’t do this.” You gasped as you looked up at her as Alice shooed everyone out of the bathroom except for you, Natasha, and a single camera.

“Yes, you can.” She insisted as she kneeled down in front of you. “Hey, look at me.” She waited until you met her green eyes before she ran her fingers through your hair and cupped your jaw in her hands. “There is nothing wrong with you. You did nothing wrong tonight. And you are perfect just the way you are. Yes, you like some nerdy things, but that’s not going to stop the right man from falling head over heels in love with you. And I know that he is in that mansion waiting for you. I just know it. And yea, you are gunna have to kiss a lot of frogs to find him, and sure, those frogs may break your heart on the path to finding Mr. Right. But sweetheart, that’s what finding love is. It’s hard because it’s worth fighting for. Trust me, I fought just as hard as you have. I found Clint and it was the greatest thing in the world. Now it’s your turn to find love, babe. 

Now I’m gunna tell you the same thing you told me just a few months ago. You can’t walk away when you’ve just barely stepped into the game. What kinda chance are you giving this if you do? And please don’t make me start referencing Disney princesses on camera in front of the whole nation. I really don’t know them as well as you do and I don’t want to make more of a fool of myself than I already am in sweatpants.” You huffed a laugh and pulled the oxygen mask away from your face.

“What if they all walk away?”

“Then Clint and I will find you someone else that is worthy of you. But I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that. I think that you are gunna find your love here. But you have to give it a chance, sweetie. You have to give it a chance, and don’t doubt yourself when guys are dicks and they choose to miss out on the amazing woman I know. And no more panic attacks. I don’t appreciate getting phone calls at ten at night telling me you’re trying to essentially trying to suffocate yourself in the bathroom after a one on one gone bad.” You smirked and looked down as she sat up a bit and kiss your forehead. “Think you can maybe come out of the bathroom now? Forget the idiot that hurt you tonight, and go find the man that you’re supposed to spend forever with?” You nodded your head, and sniffled as you swiped at your smeared makeup and remaining tears. 

“Can you zip me first?”

“Are you gunna give this an honest chance?” You nodded and sniffled once more as you sat back on the toilet seat and grabbed some more tissues.

“I will, I promise.”

“Good. Alright, up you get. Go get your make up fixed, do your wrap up interview, and go take a nice hot bath, and sleep in tomorrow. Then, I want you to write me notes, even if I never see them. Write these crazy ideas of yours out since you can’t talk them out with me. Tell me about all the cute guys you get to kiss and the fun dates you get to go on. Don’t let the bad thoughts drown you, (Y/N). You’re better than that. Go fall in love already. It’s your turn.” You nodded as you turned around to look at her with a splotchy cheeked smile.

“What would I do without you?”

“You’d still be hyperventilating in a bathroom and I would be nice and cozy warm in my bed. But we are best friends now and we are stuck with each other through all of this. Not that I mind.” She smiled at you as she licked her thumb and proceeded to practically scrub your make up off. “Maybe one day we could even do a double wedding!”

“You must be stoned if you think I’m giving up my Disney wedding dream, bitch.”

“Yea yea.” She giggled as she tried to brush your hair down. “Alright, you’ve stepped into like professional territory here. I can’t help you.”

“God, I hate you.” She nodded her head and pulled you into a hug with a sigh. “Thank you.”

“Of course, babe. I love you.”

“Love you, too. Now go find your man. And let me get back to mine.”

“OK, I’m going. I’m going.”

“All better?” Alice asked as you finally emerged from the bathroom. You nodded at her as you handed the medic his oxygen tank back.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She said with a swipe of her hand. “Shit happens, we film it, and we get more viewers. Let’s get you cleaned up. Natasha, thank you for the rescue. Sorry we dragged you out of bed.”

“If you need me again, just give me a call. I don’t mind calming her off the ledge. But now, I leave you in good hands.” With one final hug, you said good bye to your friend and headed over toward the make up artist to get yourself toughed up for the wrap up interview so you could go home and go to bed.

——

The moment you heard your ‘script’ for your second group date, you knew that there was going to be nothing but trouble that day. And stepping on to the open field and looking at not only the pretty intense looking, ‘life’ obstacle course, but the men they chose to participate in this date, made your stomach drop.

“You’re gunna get someone killed.” You whispered yelled to Chris as you looked at what you assumed had to be the most athletically inclined guys in the house after filming your confessionals for the first part.

“It’ll be fun.”

“Yea, OK.” You said through a sarcastic laugh. You smiled and waved at the guys as the all came over to say hi before filming started. The last in line was Bucky, who took one look at you and his brow furrowed the slightest bit.

“Are you OK?”

“I’m OK now. Just… be careful today, OK?” He nodded his head, and leaned down to kiss your forehead before going over to join the rest of the guys. 

“Alright, let’s get set up. We got a lot to do today!” With a worried sigh, you turned to head over to your mark, but you actually froze when you saw who was standing there. 

“No.” You gasped with a shake of your head. “No, you are not here.”

“I’m not?” Mila Kunis teased as she looked down at her body. “Did I leave myself at home?”

“No! Oh my God, sorry. I’m just… holy shit! I’m a huge fan!”

“Oh, thank you!” She said as she came over to give you a hug. “I was really rooting for you last season.”

“Stop.” You said as you pulled back and covered your red cheeks. “Oh, my God. I can’t even handle this right now.”

“So I shouldn’t come over to say hi, too?”

“Stop!” You squealed at Ashton Kutcher. “Stop, seriously?!”

“OK, I’ll stop.” He came to a dead stop a few feet away from you and shrugged. “I’ll stay here.”

“No, no! Wait…”

“I think we broke her.” Mila teased as she pat your arm.

“You absolutely did.”

“Guys, let’s get this going!” Alice called out. “We don’t actually have all day!”

“So who do we like?” Mila asked as she laced her arm with yours and lead you over to where you were supposed to ‘enter’ from.

“Isn’t that supposed to be a secret?” You teased.

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” You hummed and stopped in the shade to look over at the guys.

“What kinda fun would that be, though. I know you guys are fans.”

“I think that tall, short haired, muscular one.” Ashton said as he pointed at Dean. 

“I don’t know.” You said in a sing song voice as you looked over at Bucky for a moment. “He may not even be here today.”

“Alright, (Y/N). You’re just gunna walk over to your mark and say your lines!”

“Oh, he’s definitely here.” Mila said to her husband behind your back with a nod.

“Action!” You smiled and walked away from them toward the middle of the field in front of the guys and under a wood starting line, as if you had just walked out of the car. 

“Hey guys!” You said with a smile as you gave them a small wave. “So I know that you are already fighting for my heart, but I want to make sure that you are also ready to fight for not just me, but for us as well. Now I know nothing about marriage… but I have some great friends that do!” You gestured to the side to introduce your friends, and your smile grew as your new ‘friends’ walked out on to the field toward you. “I’m sure you guys know Mila and Ashton.”

“Hey guys!” Mila cooed as the pair of them finally said hello to the guys. “So (Y/N) would have to be one of our absolute favorite Bachelorettes.”

“I’m sure you say that about all of us.” You teased.

“No, she’s serious!” Ashton replied, making you almost instantly think of Kelso. “She’s obsessed.”

“You’re gunna give me a complex.”

“Well this won’t help. Because when we found out you were going to be the Bachelorette, we called the producers and demanded to be on the show. We had to help our girl find the true husband material in the house.” You laughed at Mila’s teasing as she popped her hip out to the side and held up her fingers to count out her points. “I’m talking stable job, nice house, health insurance… All of you have health insurance, right?” The guys nodded and held up their hands as Ashton pulled you toward him, protectively.

“We’ll be taking her away if you don’t.”

“I mean… hey, girl, hey!” The guys all chuckled as you put your hand on Ashton’s chest and popped your heel behind you. Mila laughed and gave you a high five before gesturing to the group.

“Hey, I picked my husband, these are yours to pick from.”

“Well we have to find the best one first, honey.” Ashton said as he turned to gesture to the course. “So the first station is the baby changing station. Pretty self explanatory but once you’re done, you have to bring the baby to the next station and put the baby in a Baby Bjorn. But there are only ten, so two of you will be out and headed to the dog house. After that, you gotta do a little vacuuming, then you have to make sure there’s no rat’s up in the attic…”

“But once a crawl space or a vacuum has been claimed, if you are left without one, you’re out.”

“And you have to protect our baby!” You reminded them.

“Once the attic is clear, you have to unclog the drain of the hair rope.”

“And then I accidentally dropped my gorgeous Neil Lane engagement ring in the sink and you just have to find it.” You chimed in with the only line for that part that you knew you had to say. “Just put it in the box for me before you set the table.”

“The tables have to be correct, guys before the final two can race off to get the bouquet.” Ashton wrapped up.

“And the first one to give our beautiful Bachelorette the bouquet, wins.”

“Alright, let’s cut.” Jeff called out. “There’s just a few things we are gunna clarify here.” He came over with his clip board and Danielle came over with a few bottles of water for you, Ashton, and Mila.

“So you gunna tell me now?” Mila asked before she took a long swig of water.

“Not a chance.” She huffed and glared at you, playfully as Jeff called a reset.

“Spoil sport.”

“You’re giving me an air horn? Sweet!”

“Oh, that’s a bad idea.” Mila laughed as you were all instructed to move toward the starting line.

“Alright, action!” 

“Alright, gentleman. On the count of three. One… two… three…” Even though you were expecting it, you still cringed when he blew the horn. The guys all took off and you instantly saw who the most competitive ones were.

“Easy with the babies!” Mila yelled as the guys scrambled to change the diapers. You could easily see that Bucky, Clark, Rick, Charles, and Arthur all knew what they were doing, but Bruce, Daryl, Loki, Sam Wilson, Dean, Chibs, and Opie all looked a little lost. You cheered loudly and clapped your hands as Bucky and Clark dashed away from the changing tables toward the Bjorn station, seconds before Sam did, surprisingly. You really did your best in not calling out anyones names so you didn’t accidentally say only one you wanted to cheer for.

“Go, go, go!” You shouted at the leads as Loki and Daryl headed over to the Dog House bleachers with no Baby Bjorn’s for their dolls. You were actually quite proud of your leads as they quickly ‘vacuumed’ their strip of carpet, and darted up the next obstacle, but you did notice that, as Opie and Dean joined the dog house with no vacuums, that Bucky was the only one that was almost protectively holding his baby.

“Oh, my God!” You and Mila completely lost it when fake rats went flying through the air off the ‘attic’ obstacle as Sam, Clark, Charles, and Bucky battled for first with Arthur, and Bruce right behind them. The latter two were forced into the Dog House, however when the first four got to the sinks first.

“Go, baby, go!” You shouted as you jumped up and down, way to into this competition than you probably should be. Clark and Bucky, with their longer arms both won that portion and they raced toward the long ‘sink’ to find your ring. Just as Clark yanked the first ring out of the water, Sam darted over and slipped in the water, forcing Bucky to jump over him to get the second ring into the box.

“Get two plates!” You called out as you followed Mila and Ashton over to help instruct the guys how to set the tables. “Look at the sizes, two of everything.”

“Why is there so much!?” Bucky shouted as he scrambled to grab things off the podium.

“Because that’s the way it is!”

“OK then!” He shouted back to you as you practically threw a sippy cup into his arms so you could finish helping Clark as well without cheating too much.

“Hey! Hey, don’t you do that!” Ashton scolded playfully as you and Mila each helped a guy organize. “No helping!”

“Who’s helping?” Mila asked as she switched forks around for Bucky. 

“Wasn’t me… go.”

“Wait, I didn’t check!” Ashton tried as Bucky took off with a finished table a couple seconds behind Clark. You only half heard Chris Harrison yell something behind you as you watched Bucky actually shove Clark out of the way in an attempt to win with an actual growl.

“Easy!” You called out, even though Clark managed to recover easily. He sprinted as fast as he could and made it across the finish line only a couple moments before Bucky. You cheered and raised your arms in the air so he could wrap you in a hug and lift you up in a hug a second before Jeff yelled ‘cut’ and that he needed a medic. “Wait, what?” You said as you turned in Clark’s hold to see Sam, still on the ground, holding his arm. You asked Clark to put you down at the same time he already was, so you could run over to see what happened.

“I fell for you.” Sam joked as he held up his broken arm. “And they are pretty sure I have a concussion on top of this.”

“Oh, honey. I’m not worth a concussion.”

“At this exact moment, I would have to agree with you because I feel a little sick.”

“OK, they are gunna fix you up, alright? The medic’s coming.” You looked over as an ambulance pulled up to the edge of the field, and you tried really hard to stay calm for Sam. “See, right there. And hey, you get to look forward to sleeping in air conditioning, right? You’ll be much happier than the other guys tonight.”

“True.” You gave him a small smile, and stood up to get out of the medics way, and you managed to bump into Bucky, who was standing behind you. You looked up at him as he laid his hand on the small of your back for comfort.

“We broke him.”

“He’s in good hands, though doll. He’ll be just fine.” You nodded your head and reached out for his and Clark’s hands (since they were the closest) to try to ground yourself as tears welled in your eyes.

“He’s gunna be OK.” Clark reassured as he laced his fingers with yours. You simply nodded your head and took a half step forward to hear the medics and Chris talking better.

“… but that means we’re gunna have to send you home.”

“Yea, I figured.” Sam sighed as he looked over at you. “Damn.”

“Hey, it’s OK.” You tried as you stepped over when the medics put him on a stretcher. You gave him the strongest smile you could and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get to know you more.”

“Hey… that’s OK.” He said with a smile. “I’m not good enough for you anyways.”

“Oh, stop.” You huffed as he reached up with his good hand to wipe away a single tear. “Take care of yourself, OK? I would strongly suggest you avoid looking for fake rings in kitchen sinks for at least six to eight weeks, and you better hit on every single nurse that comes in your hospital room.”

“Oh, is that your medical opinion?” He laughed as the EMT gently pulled you back to put up the rail.

“Very medical. And it’s the best medical advice you are gunna get.” He nodded his head as you leaned over the side and kissed his forehead gently. “Take care, Sam.”

“You assholes better be good to her!” He called out as he was lead away to head to the hospital. “She’s an angel!”

“Alright, someone call Alice.” Chris said as he walked away to figure the situation out.

“Well that was interesting.” Ashton said behind you as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“So now what?” Opie asked as he looked around the small group.

“Well… I know a good pizza place a mile away from here that would probably deliver.” Mila suggested with a shrug. “My parents are with the kids. Just you guys wait, you’ll spend an afternoon eating pizza with strangers for a date, too.”

“I’m OK with pizza.” You said with a nod as you looked over at Alice, who was over talking to the EMT’s. “As long as none of you think pineapple is an acceptable topping.”

“Shit, I better just quit now.” Arthur teased as the group headed over to a large group of trees to get out of the sun.

“I will figure out a way to get you guys money for the pizzas.” Bucky said behind you without batting an eye, which made you turn around and shake your head.

“No, he won’t. I will…”

“Neither of you will.” Ashton said as he sat down in the grass as Mila got a general consensus of what pizza’s to order. “We got it.”

“You think so.” You huffed as you sat down in the grass. “Alright, so let me get to know you guys. Do a little cheating while I have the chance.”

“Ooo, I’m telling!” Ashton laughed.

“You’re gunna get me in trouble.” You laughed. “And if you do that, I won’t like you anymore.”

“Ashton, do not turn my favorite Bachelorette against us!” Mila scolded before she went back to ordering pizza.

“See fella’s, learn this lesson now. If you put a ring on her finger, you will never be right again and everything will always be your fault.”

“Well isn’t it anyways?” Bucky asked with a giant grin behind you, which made you cheer.

“He gets it, folks!” You laughed as you leaned over into his side. “There is hope for man kind!” The rest of the guys shouted, playfully in protest as he rested his hand on the small of your back as subtly as he could.

“30 minutes.” Mila said as she sat down beside you.

“Let’s play a game.” You said as you sat up the slightest bit but still within Bucky’s reach. “Never have I ever.”

“He’s the one.” Mila whispered to her husband as the group all held up two hands to play since there wasn’t anything better to do until Alice got there to fill out an incident report and address any possible lawsuits that could arise. “This one she’s sitting next to. He’s her winner.”

“You think?”

“I know.” She said with a nod as she turned to use Ashton’s legs as something to lean against. “I absolutely know.”

——  
Men who got roses in order:

Steve, Clark, Opie Thor, Peter, Juice, Nick, Jimmy, Loki, Shane, Arthur, Negan, Charles, Bucky, Sam Winchester, Daryl, Rick, Chibs.

Men who went home:

Dean, John, Cas, Bruce, Jax (left), Sam Wilson (injured).


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey, (Y/N)?” You looked up and quickly shut you notebook as Alice walked into your room in the crew’s rental house. “We need to talk.”

“I didn’t do it.” You said, instantly as you sat up a little straighter and put your notebook under your thigh.

“No, you didn’t.” She sighed as she sat down on the edge of your bed and pulled out her ear piece. “So, Sam is OK. He broke his wrist so yes, he is leaving… but we’re actually running into a slight issue with people leaving.”

“Huh?”

“Well… originally we had thirty guys. We’re exactly one week in and we’ve lost ten so far. And at the rate we’re going, we’re already looking to have to cut a week off filming.”

“What, you think I’m gunna say no to that?” You asked as you folded your hands and rested your arms on your knees. “You think I’m gunna say no to having a normal conversation with my future fiancé sooner rather than later?”

“And that’s another thing. You’ve already decided who your marrying, haven’t you?”

“Yea, don’t get me started on the wording of that statement. But yes, I have picked out which guy I want to know more than the others.”

“James Barnes, right?”

“Bucky.” You almost corrected with a nod. “Yes.” 

“I’m torn with what to do here, (Y/N). I mean, I have to say, your season is already more dramatic than the last ten combined which is great for us! And I already know there is going to be more with Shane, and Negan, and the drama we expected from Thor and Loki… but with losing a week of filming, we’re losing even more guys faster than we originally planned and I’m afraid that if we let you spend any time with him…”

“Don’t punish him.” You said quickly as you shook your head, nearly frantically. “Please. Please don’t punish him…”

“It’s not a punishment. But I can’t have the two of you in the same room for even two seconds without you attracting like magnets.” You couldn’t help but smirk and you quickly looked away from her to move your notebook so you could lean back against the headboard of your bed again. “You are making my job really difficult…”

“I’m not doing a damn thing!”

“Yea, yea.” She sighed. “Alright, well we have nineteen men left heading into episode three, maybe four… and we’re losing three outside of a rose ceremony but we can’t skip a rose ceremony because we have to drop a week of filming to not go over our allotted time slots.” She shook her head and actually groaned as she got off the bed and continued. “And then we have a Bachelorette who’s dead set in who she wants, who gravitates toward only ONE MAN making my job so much harder to try to keep some mystery to this show…” She stopped in the doorway of your room and shook her fists at the ceiling, exaggeratedly. “Why do you do this to me!?”

“Because he likes making you squirm.” She stopped and looked back at you with narrowed eyes.

“You have a pool party in a couple hours to prepare for. Better hurry up… and quit writing secret notes!”

“What secret notes?!” You yelled after her as you held your notebook a little tighter.

“I know everything, (Y/N)! I know all, and see all!”

——

“OK, how the hell are you so good at this?” Negan asked as you stood beside him, playing corn hole in the back yard with Charles on your team and Peter on his across the pitch.

“OK, so I don’t want to answer that question.” You laughed as you looked over at him and waited patiently for your turn. “Because it just makes me feel like a dork.”

“Oh, now I have to hear it!” He laughed. You sighed and bent down to grab your bean bags to hide.

“I’m kinda in like a league.”

“Wait, there is actually a fucking league for this shit?!”

“Well, we don’t only play this.” You defended as you tossed the bean bag directly in the hole on the far ‘Bachelorette’ themed board. “Every Saturday, the people from my job and from my neighborhood get together and just hang out outdoors. We play corn hole, frisbee golf, bocce, shuffleboard. We have a giant domino set, a five foot tall Jenga tower, oh, capture the flag is always guaranteed to end in blood.”

“How’d you get that started?” Charles called out as he pulled all three of your bean bags from under the board.

“On accident, kinda… well, you see, a bunch of us were drinking after work a few years back at my bosses house, and he has like an acre and a half of land. And one of my co-workers stole his girlfriend’s car keys because she was drunk, and took off into the woods and it turned into a free for all of people trying to get to or keep people from those keys. And it just kinda evolved from there.”

“I bet you’ll miss that.” Negan said almost under his breath. “If you have to move.”

“It’d be worth it.” You whispered as you glanced at Bucky, who had been instructed by Alice to try to keep his distance for the sake of the show. 

“He’s a lucky guy.” Your eyes continued over to your opponent as he handed you your last bag.

“Thank you.” He bobbed his head and stood back up with a shrug.

“So what’s the trick here?”

“Oh, you think I’m gunna cheat!?” You teased as you waited for him to go. “I don’t think so!”

“Don’t be mad you choose the wrong team.” Charles laughed as you sunk yet another bean bag in the hole. 

“This is really not helping my competitive side, what-so-ever.” Peter huffed as he watched Negan’s toss slide off the back of the board again. “I want a rematch with a better partner.”

“Hey, whoa! Not cool!”

“Sorry boys… I have to use the ladies room, anyways… and that… is… game.” You smiled as the last bean bag landed square in the middle of the board for the final point you needed. “That’s the way it’s done.”

“You’re gunna teach me how to do that.” Negan chuckled as you squeezed his arm on your way around him.

“Keep winning my heart and I absolutely will!” You called out for the cameras alone since you both knew he wouldn’t make it to the end.

“(Y/N), watch!” You turned around at the wrong second, right into the start of the fight between Thor and Loki. You got caught hard by an elbow to the eye, and went flying into the freezing cold pool from the force. The impact with water stung your whole right side, and you actually were too stunned to move. Your body lurched just before it hit the bottom when someone wrapped you in their arms and pushed off the bottom of the deep end.

“Hey… you’re OK.” Bucky gasped as he shifted you in his arms to move your hair out of your face so he could see your already swollen eye. “I got you.”

“Fuck…” You groaned as you covered the left side of your face while tears welled in your eyes. 

“Bring her inside.” Alice said as she held Bucky’s arm to keep him steady as he walked with you up the stairs. “Into the kitchen.” With a nod, he walked through the crowd of guys and crew, keeping you close to his chest.

“Can someone grab her a towel before she freezes? It’s January…”

“Yea, I’m on it.”

“Someone call the medic.”

“(Y/N), let me see…”

“Can we give her some fucking space!?” Bucky snapped, loudly as he glared at the producers. “And get the fucking cameras out of her face.” You mentally thanked him as he stopped and set you down on the counter. You looked up at him as he wrapped you in a towel before very gently wrapping his fingers around your wrist. “Can I see?”

“It’s gunna bruise.” You sighed as you let him pull your hand away. “I know it.”

“Alright, we’re just gunna get some ice on it then. Keep that pretty face pretty a little while longer.”

“What, are you saying I’m busted right now?” You teased as you gently toughed the area around your eye to see if anything was broken.

“Absolutely. So busted I can barely look at you.”

“Oh, you’re an ass.” You huffed as you watched him wrap a bag of frozen corn in a couple paper towels.

“What, would you preferred I lied to you? No, let me.”

“Yea, I would much prefer the lie.” He nodded his head and very gently laid the temporary ice pack on your face.

“Well, my mother always told me not to lie. I’d end up like one of those donkeys on Pinocchio.”

“There is no way your mother used that as a threat.”

“OK, so that was a lie. Those donkey children actually terrified me so I was the best kid I could be.”

“See, I was never a fan of that movie. I thought it was way to deep to be showing little kids. But then again, going back as an adult and watching and animating Disney movies makes one question why they would make such violent villains for kids movies at all.”

“Money.” He responded casually as he leaned his weight on his arm on the counter beside you. “How else would they see their dolls, and their bedding, and the night lights, and all that? Protect the children!”

“You have given this way to much thought, Bucky.” You laughed as you pulled the temporary ice pack away for the medic to take a look.

“Niece and nephew.” He reminded you with a shrug. “I’ve been analyzing Disney’s motives for the past eleven years. That and the stupid Wiggles… but I think they are just the direct spawn of Satan sent to Earth to make parents miserable.”

“Wow. Tell me how you really feel.”

“Wait until you have kids and you see an episode of it, doll. You’ll understand.”

“I don’t think so. I think my kids are gunna be raised on the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and other greats from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.”

“Oh, baby girl, you get more amazing every day.” He chuckled as his eyes darted down more toward your cheek, where the medic was checking to see if anything was broken.

“I’m not doing anything.” You hissed.

“Nothing’s broken.” The medic said as he switched out the corn for an actual ice pack. “Keep it iced so it doesn’t swell to much. It will bruise though.”

“Great.” Alice groaned.

“Ice up, come on.” Bucky said quickly as he stepped into the medics spot and pushed your hand up. “You’re not getting any prettier with it down in your lap.”

“You are so mean!” You laughed through a pout as you reached out to pull him toward you with just your finger under his chin.

“She’s gunna pick him.” Clark, who was the only one who had stuck around to see how you were, said to Alice as he watched you kiss Bucky gently as you wrapped your legs around his waist. The producer looked over at him with a sigh and a slow nod of her head.

“If we can keep filming with her eye like that and you stay, I’ll make sure that you are the next Bachelor. I can tell you’re actually here to find love.” He looked over at her with the smallest sigh before he turned to go get something a little stronger than beer.

“Fine.”

——

“Oh, man…” You groaned as you looked at yourself in the mirror of your bathroom the next morning. “This looks like shit.”

“You could always be uglier, doll.” You smiled at the sound of his voice and glanced over before doing a double take.

“What are you doing here?!” You hissed as you practically ran into your bedroom to hide Bucky, and almost directly into Alice. “Wait, I didn’t do it!”

“OK, breathe, please.” She said as she held her hands up for a moment and closed the bedroom door since you were only in a thin, knee length night gown and panties. “You’re getting canceled.”

“I’m… I’m what?”

“We don’t have another choice.” She said as she leaned against the wall, casually. “Not with your eye like that. But we’re going to use your eye to our advantage.”

“Umm… OK?” You looked over at Bucky as you sat down on the end of your bed, beyond confused.

“We’re gunna use the magnets.” Bucky sat down beside you with an equally confused face and both of you simply blinked owlishly at your producer. “Look, every single person here knows that at the end of the day, the proposal is coming from you and she’s gunna say yes. There’s no question with that, which makes my job easy. So! We’re gunna go back to the house, throw you back in the pool, and you are gunna throw a fit. Announce you pick him, and the two of you can walk away into the sunset all chipper as can be. We get our show and our ratings, you get to be a couple, and you still get all the benefits the show provides. The cash, the interviews, the sponsorships… contract still intact. But I need one thing from the two of you and I know it won’t be hard to do. James, when you bring her into the kitchen this time, I need you to be Prince Charming because that’s what the network wants from you now. We need you to be protective, and loud; louder than you were yesterday about getting her space. Don’t get violent, but stake your claim. Over fuss, be protective, be…”

“A hero.” He said with a nod as he looked over at you. “Before I even consider agreeing to this, I have to know. Is this what you want? Am I the guy you want to get to know and date after only two weeks of knowing me? Am I the guy you see yourself falling in love with, the man you want to figure out a future with? You have like twenty other guys…”

“Bucky it’s you.” You interrupted with a shake of your head as you reached out for his hand. “It has always been you.” He nodded his head and put his other hand on the small of your back. 

“OK.” He agreed with a nod. “So let’s just get this over with then, I guess. I’d prefer to get the cameras out of my face sooner rather than later.”

“I second that.” You agreed as you got up to hunt down your bathing suit from the day before. “I’d really like to get to know my new boyfriend without cameras in my face.”

“You still can’t be seen together until the show airs!” Alice called out as you pulled your nightgown off and grabbed the still damp bikini top from the towel rack.

“Good thing I can be creative!” Reshooting took all day, and confessionals led well into the night. By the time you made it back to ‘your house’, you were freezing cold in your bikini and beyond exhausted from not only being thrown in the pool a dozen times and from waking up at six am for two weeks straight and not getting to bed until nearly midnight. You stole one of Bucky’s shirts from his duffle, since he was staying with you until the network figured out if they could even use the footage they had to create even part of a season, and collapsed on top of him on the bed. He pulled the blankets up over both of you, wrapped his arms around your waist, and sighed contently as you nuzzled into his broad, muscular chest to steal his warmth. 

Neither of you said a word, you simply laid there and enjoyed each others company with gentle kisses and the soft, consist back and forth swipe of your finger tips across each others skin. It was a silent way of reminding each other you were there; that you were in this together. With that little thought, a small smile pulled across your cheeks as you closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep.

“Hey, baby girl.” You whined and shook your head as you tried to hide your face in Bucky’s chest. “I know you are all comfortable and warm, but I need to get up for a minute. Then you can get all comfortable again.”

“Stupid bathroom breaks.” You grumbled as you rolled off him and instantly scooted into the warm spot on the bed. Bucky chuckled and went quickly so he could come back and cuddle his girl a while longer. You grumbled at him as he crawled back into bed and pulled you into his arms.

“You’re so warm.” You groaned as you tried to hide in his chest again. 

“I usually run a little warmer.” You hummed and scooted impossibly closer to him.

“I have no problems with that because I’m always cold.”

“Well lucky me.” He sighed as he slipped his hand up the back of your shirt and rubbed your back. “I get to cuddle with you more.” You let out a tired ‘yay’, yawned, and closed your eyes to go back to sleep. “Hey… we need to talk.” 

“Worst four words in the history of words.” You grumbled against his chest. You laid there for another moment or two, just to enjoy him a little while longer before he could break your heart. “Alright, what’s up?”

“Well… first and foremost… Do you want kids?” Your brow furrowed as you pulled back to look at him through sleep clouded eyes.

“What?”

“I mean… we have to at least see if we’re on the page with what we want out of life, right? Kids, marriage, visitation, and living arraignments since we live in two different places…”

“When did we get into a custody case?” You teased as you rolled onto your back and stretched out. “Alright, let me pee and get us some coffee, we’ll figure this out.” He nodded his head and rolled onto his back as you got up. You threw on a pair of shorts and headed out into the kitchen, where the crew had a full buffet of food on the kitchen counters like they did every morning. You threw together an overflowing plate, filled two coffee mugs, stole a handful of creamers and a sugar bowl, and put them all on a tray to bring upstairs. “Alright, breakfast is served.” You said as you kicked the door closed behind you.

“Breakfast in bed. Don’t I feel special.”

“Yea, this should be you carrying this tray.” You giggled as you balanced the tray on your hand and put his coffee down on the bedside table he was closer to. “So what do you wanna start with?”

“Well.” He sighed as he took the tray from you and set it down on the bed. “I assume marriage is a yes.”

“Obviously.” You agreed as you sat down on your side and tucked your legs up under you. “Yes, I do want kids.”

“Same. Two… maybe three.”

“I have twins in my family so you may get two at once…”

“I’m OK with that.” He said with a nod as he ripped a croissant in half. “Twins run in my family, too.”

“Political affiliation?” He inhaled as he took a bite of the buttery pastry and glanced over at you.

“(Your Party).”

“Oh thank God.” You sighed with a smile. “That makes this so much easier.”

“So where do you live?”

“Right now, I’m in Van Nuys but I…” Your sentence was cut off as Bucky started to choke on his coffee and you reached out to pat his back with a concerned look on your face.

“You’re in Van Nuys?” He repeated as he looked over at you. “So you’re telling me we live less than half an hour away from each other…”

“Wait, where do you live?”

“I’m in Pasadena.” He said before clearing his throat. “I work at CalTech… like that Raj guy in Big Bang Theory. That’s my job.”

“My whole family works for Disney. I’ve been an animator at Disney Animation Studios in Burbank for ten years.”

“This is insane.”

“Right? So I guess that takes care of living arraignments and visitation down the line. We’re basically neighbors so moving in together won’t affect either of us at all.”

“Yay custody case settled!”

“You’re a dork.” You laughed as you leaned over into his side.

“I’m your dork.” He said with a smile as he put his arm around your shoulders and kissed the top of your head. You nodded your head and grabbed some grapes off the plate.

“How’d we get so lucky?”

“I will never stop asking myself that question.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Were you followed?” Bucky asked as you snuck into his condo in the cover of night on the first night you were back in town after your network imposed isolation.

“Bucky, I’m wearing a wig and sunglasses at night. I don’t think anyone would even recognize me, let along follow me.” You stopped in the living room, dropped your bag, and turned around to look at him as he locked the door behind you. “Hi baby.”

“Hi, doll.” He cooed as he turned and wrapped you in a bear hug. “I missed you.”

“You saw me two days ago.” You pointed out as you let him walk you backwards into his living room. “But I missed you, too.” When your legs hit the couch, he easily lifted you up, and laid you down beneath him so he could capture your lips with his. You ran your fingers through his hair and wrapped your legs around his hips, just happy that you were back in your man’s arms again. He playfully bit your lip and smiled as you started to pull at his belt.

“What happened to Netflix?”

“We’re doing the chill part first.” He hummed and kissed you harder as he pulled off your wig and tossed it on the table. Cloths came off as fast as you could possibly get them off and with each passing moment, you both got more desperate. You started to beg, softly at first, as he slowly made his way down you jaw to your neck while his strategically laced his fingers with yours and held them above your head. “Bucky, please… please don’t torture me.”

“Oh, but it’s so damn fun to watch you squirm, doll.”

“It is not fun to squirm.” You moaned as you pushed your hips up and pulled his down with your heels at the same time. He grunted when your pussy barely grazed his length but he quickly held your hips down with his own. “Bucky, I am not playing games.”

“Oh, but I am…” Your jaw fell open as he shifted his hips just so so that he could sink his thick length in once all the way, but he pulled right back out.

“Keep it up, James Buchanan…”

“Don’t you full name me.” He chuckled as he swiped his tongue across your nipple. 

“Baby, please…. Please, I’m begging you.”

“Oh, I know you are.” He teased as he licked your other nipple with just the tip of his tongue. “I can hear it.” You squeezed his hands tightly and arched into him off the couch as he continued to tease your nipples. You forced yourself to stay quiet for a few moments, waiting for his focus to be else where, so you could pull your hand free from his grip. As fast as you could, you slid it between your bodies, and wrapped it around his cock.

“Roll.” You demanded as roughly as you could, despite the fact that you were completely wrecked. “Sit.”

“Oh, you sneaky little thing.”

“Over, baby. I’m making the rules now.”

“Because you cheat.” He said as he listened to you and shifted you both on the couch.

“I begged long enough for my liking today so now I am making the rules. And the rules today… are that you are not to tease me and you just simply fuck me.” He moaned as you sank down on to him and rocked your hips back and forth.

“Baby, there’s a fucking reason I tease you.” He groaned as you rolled your hips. “Fuck, you are so Goddamn tight.”

“And that is my version of torture, Bucky. And it can be as sloooow and as torturous as yours.” You smirked as you leaned down and gently bit his ear lobe. “But slow is not all I can do.”

“Awww fuck.” He groaned as you leaned back and started to roll your hips faster. His nails dug into your hips and he started pulling you down his length harder. You purposely changed speed and slowed down, which really annoyed your boyfriend like it had every time you had had sex the past three weeks you had been together. He quickly maneuvered you back on to your back and pushed your knees apart for something to hold on to. You braced yourself against the arm rest of the couch with a giant smile on your face.

“Yea, you won.” He growled before he picked up a bruising pace that made your smile fall open in a silent scream. A low chuckle rolled through his chest as he flung his head back to get the sweat dampened hair out of his eyes. With one hand, you reached up to push and hold it back so that you could pull him down toward you for a searing kiss. “You gunna be a good girl and come for me?” He asked against your lips as his blue eyes searched yours.

“Yes, please.”

“Or should I slow down and make you wait?” He asked as he came to a dead stop, making your impending high stop, abruptly.

“No, please! Please make me come. I need you, Bucky please.”

“What, you think you can just get away with breaking free?” He asked as he slid all the way in and stopped. “Yea, it’s not nice to tease, is it?”

“You started it.”

“Oh, but I’m the one that has to finish it, too. And I have come to realize that I love nothing more than to listen to you beg. To hear you say my name in that little breathy voice that I will never get enough of…”

“Bucky…”

“Yep. That one.” He confirmed as he reached down and started rubbing your clit. “But you took that away from me today. So I’m gunna take away your orgasm. Again… and again… and again…”

“No, Bucky please. Please let me cum.”

“Nope. I don’t think so.” You whined and started to get frantic as he slowly rolled his hips but quickly rubbed your clit. “See, you could have cum three times by now…”

“Fuck, Bucky please. Please, pretty please, baby please.”

“But you were just that impatient.” You breath caught in your throat and your coil started to tighten once again, but just as you were almost there, Bucky pulled his hand away and tisked. “Are we learning a lesson yet?”

“What lesson, that I apparently have a huge kink for this orgasm denial shit, and that I am absolutely doing this again?” He let out the most guttural groan you had ever heard and started pounding into you.

“Fuck, how are you so fucking perfect?” He moaned before he captured your lips with his and found your clit once more. You stiffened and arched into him as your release raced from the pit of your stomach, up through your chest, and down your limbs in a matter of seconds. Your nails dug into his upper arms and your muscles began to spasm around him, pulling him into bliss with you. He very gently laid part of his body weight on you while he caught his breath, and you hugged him tight.

“So… what other kinks do you have there, doll?”

“Shut up.” You giggled as you kissed his shoulder. “Pull my hair a little bit. I apparently make all kinds of noises with that.”

“Holy fuck.” He groaned into your neck as he hugged you a little tighter. “Thank you, Bachelorette.”

“Such a dork.” He nodded and kissed your cheek before he pulled away.

“Stay there, beautiful. I’ll be right back.” You nodded your head and stretched your legs out on the couch as he headed into his bedroom. You finally looked around at the room you were in and nodded your head at the photos of stars on the wall.

“This is peaceful.” You breathed as you looked at him as he came back into the room. “These pictures.”

“They all have stories.” He said as he very gently moved your leg to clean you up. “They are the stars above significant moments in my life. So my birthday, my high school and college graduation days, the day I got my doctorate, and the day I got my job at CalTech. I um… I actually pulled up the stars for the night I met you… That blank frame on the mantle is yours.” You instantly pouted out your bottom lip and sat up to see where he was talking about.

“Babe…”

“It’s been sitting there, empty, for years. It’s been waiting for you.”

“You are gunna make me cry, you know that, right?” He gave you a small smile as he grabbed his shirt and his boxers off the floor and handed the former to you.

“It’s not easy to be with me, (Y/N).” He sighed as he pulled on his boxers, tossed the washcloth toward his bedroom, and grabbed your underwear for you. “I work long hours sometimes, and there are times when I go on science rants about the stars and black homes and physics. I’m socially awkward around people and I promise you, you have no idea how hard it has been for me to not geek out these past few weeks. My sister, Rebecca was the one that signed me up for the show because she insists that no self respecting 33 year old would choose to be single as long as I have.”

“Can I show you something?” He looked over at you and nodded so you got up from the couch to grab your bag. “You go science.” You started as you opened your bag and grabbed your sketch book. “Sweetheart, I live in comics.” You sighed and sat down beside him with a small shrug as you flipped open the first page. “I’ve drawn cartoons, and princess, and anime, and superheroes… God, so many super heroes for years. I draw cartoons for a living, and I spend most of my days reading scripts for kids movies. Do you know how much fun it is to go on a date and go ‘Hey, guess what Timmy the bulldog is gunna do with Polly pollywog next?’.”

“Did you work on this movie?” He asked as he tilted your book toward you. You glanced down at a picture of Arlo and Spot from ‘The Good Dinosaur’ and nodded.

“Yea. That was one of my favorites.”

“Babe, you’re amazing!”

“Thank you.” You breathed as you shifted to cross your legs on the couch. “Oh, don’t look at those. We’re doing a second Frozen movie and even though I’m not on it, I’ve been practicing Anna but I can’t get her just right yet.”

“Looks pretty damn close to me.” He flipped to the next page and paused as he looked at the last drawing in the book; the one that you had drawn on your drive back from the mansion. “This is me.”

“That’s you.” You confirmed as you looked at a cartoonish drawing on him on a ‘Reinstate Pluto’ rocket ship with a giant planet in the background.

“Wow. Can I keep this?”

“If you want.” You giggled as you leaned over and carefully ripped the page out of the book. He traded you your book for the photo and got up with a smile.

“I’m gunna need a bigger frame now.”

“What, are you gunna put that up on your mantle?” 

“Absolutely! My girlfriend is an amazing artist and I’m gunna let every single person that I know know it.” He paused halfway back to the couch and smirked at you. “You wanna draw me like one of those French girls.”

“Oh, my God. Maybe if you quit teasing me during sex…”

“Oh, that’s never gunna happen.” He laughed as he came over and picked you up. “Never, never, never…”

“You are gunna be trouble for me, aren’t you?”


	4. Chapter 4

“I feel like we should be more upset about this.” Bucky said as he sat on your bed, looking at the positive pregnancy test in his hand while you got ready for your flight to New York for your first of hundreds of Bachelorette interviews since the start of your season was almost exactly a week away.

“What, the fact that we’re pregnant or the fact that neither of us are bothered by the news.”

“That neither of us are bothered by the news.” He confirmed as he looked up at you. “I feel like I should be freaking out right now.”

“I mean, I’m kinda on the same page.” You agreed as you finished your makeup. “But we’re kind of a weird couple.”

“Well I think that’s beyond obvious.” He huffed as he dropped the test in the trash can by your bed.

“It’s just strange because we haven’t said the L word yet and yet we practically live together.” You pointed out as you walked out of the bathroom to pick out some jewelry from the armoire in your closet. “We’ve both seen each other in flattering and super unflattering situations… I mean you freaking farted on me like two nights ago for fucks sake.”

“I was asleep!”

“You were not asleep, you laughed after you did it.” You quickly turned around to look at him with your eyebrow raised, and he just as quickly bit his tongue and looked away. “Yea, I see you. But we both know that we really care about each other, we just aren’t in love yet. Which is why I think we are both so OK with this.”

“You know, that actually sounds logical.”

“That’s because I’m using my science brain, baby. I’m not using my lady brain.”

“You… are… never gunna let me live that down are you?”

“You mansplained why I was crying over a puppy commercial, Bucky. So, no I won’t let you live it down. Not in a million fucking years, baby.” He groaned loudly and flopped back on the bed while shaking his head.

“Me and my big mouth… we at least realized you were pregnant though, so that’s a good thing, right?” With a simple smile, you kneeled down on the bed and crawled over to him.

“I’m not complaining.” He hummed and kissed you very gently before pulling back into the pillows.

“This just makes me more unhappy that I’m not going with you… with both of you.”

“We will be home before you know it. And then we get to play the fun game of figuring out how to order and stock up on baby supplies without people finding out! You ready for that, Daddy?”

“Aww, I’m gunna be a daddy!”

“Yes you are… but you are gunna make Mommy late for her cab.”

“I know, I know. Go on.” You gave him one more kiss and got off the bed. 

“You staying here?”

“Yea, most likely.”

“You know you can just move in if you want to. I know it’s a far drive for work…”

“So why don’t you just move in with me?” You smirked as you grabbed the handle of your suitcase and put your purse strap on your shoulder.

“Because I like my bed better.”

“We will talk about this when you get home. Maybe we can just find a nice three bedroom halfway between both our jobs and near a nice daycare.”

“Burbank has houses.” You pointed out as you came over to kiss his cheek once more. “See you soon, baby.”

“Text me when you land.” He groaned as he got out of bed to lock the door behind you. “Be safe, take care of our baby.” You smiled and turned around to look at him once more before you left.

“I will, I promise.”

——

“Sweetie, are you OK?” Lara Spencer asked as you got settled to do your brief interview on Good Morning America during the commercial break. You nodded your head and took a sip of water to combat your morning sickness that had been wreaking havoc on your stomach since five AM.

“Just… nervous is all. Cameras I can do, live TV is a different story.”

“You get used to it.” She giggled beside you as one of the crew called out a 30 second warning. “Just pretend that they aren’t there.”

“Easier said than done, I know.” Michael Strahan laughed on her other side. “But just keep focusing on us.”

“And let us all in on the secretive ending to your season!”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“It’s fun for me.” She said as she straightened up and looked at the cameras. You nodded your head and took one more sip of water as the show went back on air. “For our next guest, I am super excited to welcome our newest Bachelorette, (Y/N) (Y/L/N) is with us a lot sooner than we expected.” You forced a smile on your face and nodded your head as you started to wring your hands under the desk.

“I am, I am.”

“So I hear we are in for the most shocking season yet.” Robin Roberts said as she leaned forward to see you a little better around Michael.

“Not only shocking, but a little bit shorter than we’re used to.”

“It didn’t take you any time to find your one then?”

“I don’t know.” You laughed as your smile grew and your stomach started to turn again. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“What else can you tell us about this season?” You looked over at Lara, who gave you a reassuring nod. You took a half second longer than necessary to keep what very little food you had in your stomach down before you answered.

“It was a wild experience that I will keep with me for a life time. I met a lot of really amazing people, and I had a lot of fun. But there were also tears, and fears, and a whole lotta crazy.”

“Well, I think that kinda comes hand in hand with dating, though.”

“True… but I somehow managed to turn it up to eleven.” Your stomach turned once more and you could see the look on Lara’s face as she realized keeping you on camera much longer would be a very, very bad idea.

“Well I know I speak for most of us when I say good luck on finding love. The Bachelorette airs on Monday, April 8th at 8pm, right here on ABC. When we come back, we’re sitting down with Top Chef winner, Tommy Jones to see his delicious twist on Spaghetti Tuesday.” The second the cameras cut to commercial, you excused yourself as politely as you could and walked off stage with your hand over your mouth. Alice looked beyond livid as she headed over to where you had stopped to get your mic off, but you held up a finger for her to wait so you could run to the nearest, partially hidden trash can to be sick.

“What is wrong with you?” She asked as she held your hair back for you. “Please tell me you aren’t getting sick, we are in New York all week…” You huffed as you stood up and headed down to your dressing room.

“Yea, I’ll go with that.”

“OK, so we’ll call a doctor. No big…” 

“Alice, just… do me a favor and stop for a second.” She looked at you with her eyebrow raised as she pushed the door to your dressing room closed.

“What? What am I…”

“I’m pregnant.” You said in a near whisper. “That’s all it is. Some morning sickness. So just do me a favor, quit worrying, and tell people I have the flu or some shit. I don’t know just… I’m tired, man. Jet lag, growing a baby… shit is tiring.” She looked at you for a moment as you grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge in the corner of the room and headed over to sit on the couch.

“Wow. That was… not what I expected at all.”

“And how many weeks did you get out of my season?”

“Only four but we’re running it because you were a fan favorite… can I just take a moment to wrap my head around the fact that my current lead is pregnant?”

“Take your time but please do it over there. Your perfume is overwhelming. And obviously, we aren’t telling anyone so I’d appreciate you giving me a way to spin this until the second trimester at least.”

“Yea… yea, OK.” With a nod, you laid your head on the back of the couch with a sigh to rest a bit before you had to run off to go to another interview.

——

“I think I’m dying.” You moaned to Bucky as you sat in a tinted limo, waiting for Michelle, Alice’s assistant to pick somethings up from the store for you. 

“You are not dying, sweetheart.” He chuckled. “And you looked beautiful this morning, by the way.”

“Shut up, James.”

“I’m serious. You were simply glowing.”

“What, when I was trying not to throw up on national television?”

“Well you didn’t throw up, did you?” You scoffed and shook your head.

“You are not helping, baby. You’re really not.”

“Aww, I’m sorry…”

“Alright, I’ve got some different things that helped me through my pregnancies.” You looked up at Michelle as she got into the car and sat down with a huff. She held up a large, black trash bag like she had won the lottery and smiled. “I feel like the pregnancy secret service right now.”

“Did she say pregnancy secret service?”

“She did.” You laughed as you put Bucky on speaker phone since it was only you and Michelle in the vehicle. “Say hi to Michelle.”

“Hi Michelle.”

“Hi Bucky. So I got an PSI band that can be mixed with some other bracelets but it’s an acupuncture thing. I don’t knock anything because it worked for my second, but surprisingly not my third. We got… Preggie Pop Drops, which some people like, and others don’t. I bought a mint container from the CVS to put them in so they’re a little less conspicuous. We can just unwrap them so it doesn’t have name on it. They also had ginger pops, ginger raspberry, and honey lemon which, I hated with a passion, but you may like. I passed up on the mist but I did grab a ginger peach tea to try… if you don’t like it, I’ll take it just because it sounds good.”

“You are a life savor.” You breathed as you slid down the bench seat and took the bag of Preggie Pop Drops from her.

“I also picked up this cute pregnancy journal for you just so you could write about how you almost threw up on Good Morning America.”

“Not funny.” You said around the green apple candy in your mouth and over Bucky’s laugh.

“Do you know how far along you are?”

“I guessed about six weeks or so. I honestly just took the test two days ago.”

“You’re not nervous?”

“Surprisingly not.” Bucky said as you shook your head. “I’m pretty sure I can speak for both of us in saying that we’re both not just OK with this, but we’re actually excited.”

“Well those are the best kind of surprises. Just trust me when I tell you, surprise number three will always, always freak you out.”

——

You walked down the hall of your apartment building like a zombie, wishing so badly that you could be carried or that Bucky could be there to at least drag your heavy suitcase for you. You had only been in New York for a total of four days, but with all the running around you had to do, you were physically and emotionally exhausted. You sighed loudly as you pushed open your front door, but you smiled softly when Bucky stood up from the couch and looked at you with a book in his hand.

“Thank God, you’re home. I missed you and I’ve been reading.”

“What have you been reading?” You asked as you stood where you were in the entry so he could come over and give you a kiss.

“Baby books. Science brain is morphing into dad brain and I want to be prepared.” You hummed as he leaned over to give you a kiss and took your bags from you.

“You know we have a long, long time to prepare.”

“I know. I just… I’m a nerd, baby. I can’t help myself.”

“And there is nothing wrong with that, Bucky. Not a single damn thing.” With a yawn, you kicked your shoes toward your closet and crawled up on your bed to take a nap. “Wanna teach the Padawan? I’ll unpack later.” With an excited smile, he went out to grab his stack of books like the proud papa bear he was. By the time you yawned again, he had sat down on the bed in front of you with a box wrapped in brown paper in one hand and four books in the other.

“So I saw these and thought you’d like them.” You nodded your head, sat up, and took the box from him with a smile. “And then I added a little something from me, too. Just, you know… because you deserve it.”

“Oh, babe!” You laughed as you picked up ‘Go The Fuck To Sleep’ book. “This is too cute!”

“I knew you’d like it.”

“Oh, a coupon book!” You pouted and looked up at him before falling in to his side to look through the papers. “One massage, one full load of laundry, one hot, home cooked meal, one professional pedicure… Bucky, these are adorable.”

“They do expire before the baby comes.” He said as he wrapped his arm around your waist. “They’re meant to pamper you when your growing a human and all that. And then this is kinda self explanatory…”

“Oh, fuck yes chocolate.” You cheered as you picked up the one pound chocolate bar from the bottom of the box. “You are the greatest boyfriend in the history of ever.”

“I know… and I figured you’d want to pick out your own books, but I ordered What to Expect When Expecting and Eating Well When Expecting, two Dad books, and a nutritional pregnancy cookbook that I haven’t looked at yet but I figured it’d make for fun date nights of you watching me cook for you.”

“Can I tell you something?”

“What, doll?” You smiled and looked up at him with happy tears in your eyes.

“I’ve fallin’ in love with you. And I don’t know what in the hell I’ve done in life to deserve such a wonderful man. I love you, Bucky.”

“Oh, I love you, too, (Y/N). So, so fucking much and I was scared that I was gunna tell you too soon because I didn’t want to scare you off…”

“No, no baby, never!”

“OK, good.” He groaned as he dropped his books on the floor, pushed your gift off your lap and gently rolled over to partially lay on top of you. You wrapped your arms and legs around him and kissed him hard since you hadn’t seen him in a week. After a few moments, he pulled back and smiled at you. “I love you, baby doll.”

“I love you, too. I don’t mean to ruin the moment, but you’re laying on my bladder and now I have to pee.”

“Go on then. Then I vote nap before we watch ourselves fall in love on national TV.”

“Don’t forget Tasha and Clint are coming! Oh, and can we order pizza? I really want sausage and bacon pizza…”

“I’ll order it when we get up.”

——

“So you’re not allowed to freak out.” You said in the calmest tone you could manage as you handed Natasha a small box. “No freaking out, OK?”

“Ummm… OK?” You smiled at her as she pulled open the top of the box and glanced inside. She sat there for a moment, reading ‘Aunt Tasha’s new drinking buddy’ with a cute little Starbucks cup beside it twice, before she screamed and jumped to her feet.

“Shut up!”

“I know.” You laughed as she wrapped you in her arms and hugged you tight.

“We’re having a baby!”

“Pretty sure you’re just along for the ride.” Bucky teased.

“Nope, this is my baby now. I’m Aunt Tasha. My baby.”

“Told you.” You giggled as Clint and Bucky shook hands.

“When are we due?” She asked as she sat down beside you, even though there wasn’t a whole lotta room on your single chair for her to fit.

“November some time. We haven’t been able to go to a doctor together yet, and I don’t feel right going without Bucky.”

“I know a guy.” Clint said as he looked over at you. “Buddy of mine from the army. I could see if he would be willing to come here. He’d keep the secret; I trust him with my life.”

“Thank you. We’d actually really appreciate it.”

“Yes, thank you.” You said with a smile. “And welcome to being an uncle.”

“Isn’t life amazing?” Nat asked with a giant smile as she reached down to rub your non existent bump. “We become best friends, find love within months of each other, we get pregnant at the same time…”

“Shut up!” You shouted as you lurched across the couch to look at her.

“What, did you think we brought two bottles of wine for your dumb show?” She teased as she got up to show you the bottle of wine and the bottle of sparkling grape juice from her tote bag. “Nine weeks. Halloween.” You screamed and hugged her tight as Bucky and Clint looked at each other.

“She’s been screaming like that for three weeks.”

“We haven’t even told our families yet so I guess I get to look forward to it.” Clint nodded slowly and looked over at the bottle of wine for a moment before looking back.

“Got anything stronger than wine?”

“I got beer but I’m pretty sure I could make a run to ABC in enough time…”

“Beer’s good, man. Beer’s good.”


	5. Chapter 5

“James, pull the zipper.”

“Honey, it’s not moving.”

“Pull the damn zipper up!”

“Doll, I swear, I’m trying…”

“Quit trying and just do it!”

“OK, stop…” Bucky sighed gently as he stopped trying to zip a dress that was obviously a little to tight with your small, yet definitely there, 10 week along bump. He turned you around and you almost instantly burst into tears.

“I got fat!”

“No, sweetheart. You got pregnant.”

“I don’t wanna be fat!”

“You’re not fat, baby.” He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around you protectively. You mumbled ‘I am, too’ into his chest as he ran his fingers through your hair. “Hey, how about we try a different one, huh? We just bought all those cute outfits for Disney and I know that you really love that cute Minnie sundress. That’s perfect for the plane ride, right?”

“With the pockets?”

“Yea, the one with the pockets. I think that one would be so much better for the flight anyways over this one. Much looser, more wiggle room to sleep in, no zippers…”

“OK.” You sniffled with a nod. He mentally sighed in relief since this break down was just a combination of hormones and the impending red eye flight you both had to deal with. He kissed the top of your head before going over to the boxes of stuff you had ordered off Amazon and Etsy and made yourself for your ‘meet each others families’ weekend in your home town of Orlando, to find the dress you had thankfully left out of your overpacked suitcase for one reason or another.

“Alright, step out of that one.” You nodded and did what he asked as you wiped your tears off your cheeks. “Arms up.”

“You’re too good for me.” You hiccuped as he slid the sleeveless dress over your head.

“You’re just saying that to butter me up.” You shook your head as he fixed the dress and pat your hip. “Come on. We’re gunna miss our flight and then we have both our families in Orlando with nothing to do.”

“Where are my shoes?”

“By the door. Go to the bathroom, we have time.” You looked over at him, sarcastically as he picked up both of your suitcases with a shit-eating grin.

“Shut up.” He continued to smile, beyond ecstatic that the two of you could finally be seen together in public since the last episode of your season had aired the night before. You now had two weeks of freedom between that day and your final episode and you were taking your paycheck from being the lead of the show, and flying Bucky’s family down to Orlando for a free vacation so that everyone could get to know one another. You were also going to celebrate Bucky’s niece, Kim finishing second grade, and his nephew, Scott graduating from preschool school, and unknowing to any of them, to celebrate the newest member of the Barnes/ (Y/L/N) family.

“OK, I’m ready.” You sighed as you pulled your ponytail tight and slid your feet into your black ballet flats. You looked up at your boyfriend, who was just staring at you, and you cocked your eyebrow at him. “What?”

“I just wanna look at you for a minute, that’s all.”

“Stop it!” You squealed as you covered your face. 

“That’s never gunna happen. I am gunna stare at you every day for the rest of your life.” You dropped your hands and rolled your eyes before taking your purse and your bag of presents from him to leave. Lights were shut off, the door was locked behind you, and you made it outside just as your cab was pulling up. You were actually really grateful that Bucky had made you change dresses because the one you had on was much more comfortable to travel in.

“Thank you.” You said softly once Bucky had gotten in the cab beside you. 

“For what?”

“Tolerating my meltdowns.” With a small chuckle, he laced his fingers with yours and gave them a gentle squeeze.

“Of course, doll.”

——

“We’re looking for a white Honda Odyssey.” You said as you walked out of the Delta terminal in Orlando. “I don’t know who’s driving- my sister, Chelsea or my dad.”

“That one down there?” Bucky asked as he pointed to a van about five cars back. You stepped to the side before leaning the other way and nodded when you saw your brother-in-law, Jack, in the drivers seat.

“Good eyes, baby.” With a nod, he snagged your bag from you and followed you through the crowd.

“You’re here!” Chelsea screeched as she jumped out of the passenger seat to say hi. “Finally!”

“I’m here. I’m exhausted. Where’s dad?”

“Dealing with the baby.” She sighed as she opened the trunk. “And I don’t mean my babies.” You sighed and nodded your head in understanding.

“What’s that mean?” Bucky asked as he put your suitcases in the trunk.

“Our sister, Corrine.” You told him as you set the bag of presents on top of the suitcases. “She’s what, eighteen years younger than me?”

“Yea, fifteen younger than me and you’re three older than me.” Chelsea confirmed.

“She’s the special whoops.” Bucky said as he snapped his fingers.

“But don’t ever let her hear you say that.” You said quickly as you got into the middle seat next to your niece’s carseat. “Or my parents. Hi Jack. This is Bucky by the way because I’m terrible. Now what’s wrong with Corrine this time?” Your sister sighed and looked back at you over her shoulder.

“She got suspended for punching a kid in the face.”

“Teenagers.” You sighed as you sat back in your chair and put your seatbelt on.

“Our parents were nuts.” Your sister said as she turned around in her chair to look at your boyfriend. “Jack and I have only two kids. Twin girls. Three years old. I would never, ever have more than two.”

“But we love our girls.” Jack chimed in as he pulled into traffic to head to your mom’s house. 

“Yes, we do. But we also didn’t have our first at 18 and we didn’t have another one at 21 and then decide at 33 that we needed to do it all over again because fuck it, why not have kids with such a large age difference?”

“Honey, we just got to thirty. Let’s not plan on what we’re gunna be doing in fifteen years just yet.”

“My parents had me young, too.” Bucky said as you grabbed one of the baby mirrors so you could touch your face and hair up a bit. “Twenty-two. My sister, Rebecca is five years younger than me. She had her first at the same age. And w…”

“I think we’re gunna wait a while longer.” You interrupted quickly with a smile so that Bucky didn’t spoil the surprise early. “We’ll be the parent geniuses at that point.”

“You think so.” Your sister huffed as she turned back around in her chair. “You will never be prepared for kids no matter how much you think you are.” You glanced over at Bucky, who mouthed sorry, and you reached over to pat his knee with a smile.

“So are you still happy with your pick?” Jack asked with a shit eating grin since he had never seen an episode of the Bachelor or the Bachelorette until you went on the show. 

“You’re an idiot.” Chelsea snapped as she whacked his arm. “Like she’s gunna say she hates her pick right in front of her pick.”

“I hate him with a passion.” You teased as you leaned into his side. “He puts the toilet seat down, he listens and actually chimes in, he cooks dinner with me, he keeps the apartment cold for him, and brings me blankets before I even start to shiver. He’s disgusting, I hate him.”

“Sounds like he’s the worst. You should kick him my way. Ow!” You giggled as you looked Jack’s scowl and Chelsea’s giant grin.

“Sorry, sissy. I stuck my claim and I even did it on national television.”

“Fine, you can keep him.” With a happy smile, you laid your head on Bucky’s shoulder and sighed contently. You closed your eyes for a few moments, just to get a little more sleep until it was an appropriate time to take a nap, and before you knew it, you were pulling into the four bedroom house in Celebration, Florida that you grew up in.

“Welcome to Casa de (Y/L/N).” Chelsea said as Bucky ran his fingertip down your nose to wake you up.

“I’m up.” You groaned as you forced yourself to sit up straight. You took your purse from Bucky and yawned as you scooted out of the van, but being tired only lasted for a moment before your mother was practically screaming your name from the front porch.

“You’re here! Oh, thank God you’re home!”

“Hi Mom.” You said with a smile as you gave her a big hug. She kissed your cheek a half dozen times before she grabbed your upper arms and leaned back to look at you.

“You’re too skinny. You need to eat more.”

“Mom, I swear…” You sighed as you pulled away from her and reached out for Bucky’s hand. “Judy, this is James Barnes, also known as Bucky. Babe, this is my mother, Judy (Y/L/N), who has zero respect for personal boundaries.” He laughed as your mother lunged and wrapped him in a tight hug.

“I was rooting for you from the start.” She said as she took a step back to look at him. “I knew it was gunna be you. From the moment I saw my baby’s eyes when she looked at you…”

“Mom, can you stop?” You laughed as you reached out to take the bag of presents from your sister before she could carry them inside. “I have presents. Can we go inside, please?” With the most exaggerated sigh you had ever heard, she gestured you in to the house.

“Hurry up, hurry up. You’re letting all the cold air out.”

“What did we raise you in a barn?!” Your dad teased from the kitchen.

“You would think so.” Chelsea grumbled as she put your suitcases down by the stairs so you could carry them up to your room later. “With the way you’re yelling…” You followed her to the living room, where your father, Andrew, was sitting on the floor with your nieces, Allie and Emma, playing with their dolls.

“Hi Dad.” You cooed as you stopped and crouched down to kiss his cheek. “This is Bucky.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“You do not need to call me sir.” Andrew chuckled as he shook your boyfriend’s hand while you sat down on the floor with your nieces to give them their gifts first. “Andrew is just fine.”

“What’s this?” You asked as you pulled a box from the bag. You checked the tag and handed it to Emma. “One for Emma… and one for Allie.”

“Can I open it?” Allie asked as Emma simply ripped the paper off her Cinderella toddler doll.

“Of course you can!” She squealed and ripped open the paper while Emma squeaked and hugged her box tight. “Can I get the baby out?”

“Please, pretty please!”

“What do you say to Aunt (Y/N)?” Chelsea asked as Allie turned and held out the Rapunzel doll box to Bucky with a cute pout.

“Thank you!” 

“More Disney dolls.” Jack huffed with a shake of his head.

“Always.” Joan chuckled as you started digging through the bag again.

“Alright… we got Chelsea… you have to wait to open them all together! Don’t cheat! Mom, Dad, Corrine… where is Corrine?”

“She’s upstairs, probably still sleeping.” You nodded your head as you set her box off to the side and grabbed Jack’s box, last. With a smile, you took a deep breath and nodded.

“OK, open them.” Bucky looked over at you with a smile and nodded his head reassuringly as your mother got to her shirt first.

“Oh, how fun.” She said as she lifted the ‘Grandma’ shirt with a Minnie silhouette on the front that you had found on Etsy out of the box. 

“What is this?” Chelsea asked as she help up the star photograph that had slid out from the middle of your mom’s shirt and into her box.

“Well…” Bucky said with a small sigh and a giant smile. “That would be what the stars are going to look like over Orlando around noon on the current due date of our child.” It took a moment for his statement to kick in before your mother and sister screamed at the same time.

“You’re having a baby?” You nodded at your mothers statement as Chelsea came over and practically yanked you to your feet.

“Let me see!” She demanded as she pulled your dress back to see your bump.

“Yep. I see it.” Your mother said as she came over to rub her future grandchild. “Andrew, do you see this? We’re having another grand baby.”

“Guess we can officially welcome you to the family.” Jack said as he came over and shook your boyfriend’s hand.

“We’ll see.” Your dad muttered under his breath, loud enough that apparently only you and Bucky hears. You looked down at him in confusion as he looked at Bucky as if he was trying to figure something out.

“Dad.” He nodded and looked up at you with a smile.

“Congratulations, pumpkin.” Was all he managed to get out before your mom and sister started talking a mile a minute.

——

You were in the bathroom, using the facilities, when you heard your dad’s deep voice outside the door with a crackable window pane that ran down the entire door, out on the patio by the pool in your back yard. You quickly leaned forward and very carefully pushed the panels open to eavesdrop.

“…your intentions here?”

“They are pure.” Bucky responded as he sat down on one of the lounge chairs right beside the door you were behind. “And this is exactly why I wanted to talk to you, man to man, like I wish I had been able to do properly.” You could see your dad nod as you finished using the restroom and quickly pulled up your panties to let whoever was tapping on the door in. You shushed your mom, quietly and went back over to sit on the closed toilet seat as Bucky continued.

“Sir, your daughter is the most beautiful woman I have ever met in my entire life, not just physically but deep in her soul as well. And sure, I could rattle off that she’s smart, and funny, and kind but she’s so much more than that. She’s respectful of everyone around her in a way that I’ve never seen before. Everyone that she speaks to is the most important person at that moment to her. And not just people she knows, either. Strangers, acquaintances, best friends; it makes no difference to her and it makes no difference how they treat her as well. She treats them like royalty.

She’s caring, almost to a fault, but caring all the same. The first time I went over to her house just to watch a movie, she was running around like wild, making sure my drink was always full, and that I had more snacks than I could ever eat. And when I say it’s too a fault, the poor thing has been freezing herself out at home for me because I naturally run hot, and no matter how many times I tell her to stop and try to turn it up, she still sets it right back to where I keep my house just for me. And it’s not even an obligation to her, she’s just genuinely that caring.

She is patient, and kind. She is determined and persistent, confident, and charismatic, bold and playful. And I could probably list at least a half a dozen more characteristics that fit her but they would never, ever even begin to describe her. And yes, I’m aware that I have only known her four months and I could be riding the pink cloud here. I am rooted in science over fantasy the way she is. But I do know that I need her in my life. I know that she makes my world better; she makes me want to be a better person for her. She has this way of keeping my feet on the ground when my head is far away in the stars. 

But even with all that said, she is the first person to make me actually want to fight for. Had that show gone on any farther, I probably would have been kicked off it for actually physically fighting for her hand because she is worth it to me. And I can honestly sit here and promise you now sir, that I will fight to keep her in my life until my dying breath. I didn’t sign up for this show to get fifteen minutes of fame. I signed up with the intention of finding someone I wanted to spend my life with. And your daughter is absolutely that person. I know you’ve just met me but please, I’m asking you to give me the benefit of the doubt here and know that I truly, deeply, passionately love your daughter.”

“Awww…” Chelsea whispered behind you, making you jump the slightest bit since you hadn’t heard her come in.

“He’s mine, back off.” You whispered as you reached over and gently pushed her face away as your dad sighed. 

“Don’t you hurt my daughter.” He said as he shook his head at Bucky. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Jack… do not love my daughter unless you do it completely and do not be with my daughter unless you can do it completely. All three of my girls are to kind for this world and they all have managed to make it this far in life without someone destroying their soul… well, unless you ask my youngest. She thinks her soul has been demolished by some punk little kid who’s gunna get his if he ever makes my daughter cry again.”

“He thinks he’s such a hard ass.” You teased as Bucky chuckled on the patio.

“But the same goes for you, just as the same goes for Jack. You hurt my baby girl, and you will meet the business end of a sawed off shot gun.”

“Dad!” “Andrew!” You and your mom shouted at the same time, which made both men jump. Your mother reached up, unlocked, and pushed open the door with a scowl as Chelsea got up to lean across your lap to see, too.

“I’ve told you once and I won’t tell you again! Do not threaten the sons in law with violence!”

“Get back in the kitchen, woman!” He shouted playfully. “Private conversation here. You too, ladies!”

“Hey, I was just going to the bathroom!” You said in defense as you held up your hands in surrender. 

“I got lassoed in by mom!”

“Oh, you little liar!” Your mother laughed as she turned around to hit Chelsea.

“Can I finish my man to man conversation here?” Andrew tried as Jack, who no one had seen eavesdropping, opened the passthrough window in the kitchen and waved at every one.

“Let the record show, I didn’t hear any of that sickeningly sweet confession of love while I made the girls lunch!”

“Me neither!” Corrine called out from her favorite spot to hang out on the roof outside her second story bedroom window.

“Hey! You need to get your ass down here and say hello to your big sister!”

“This happens every single time you want a private moment in this family.” Andrew sighed as he stood up. “Come on. I need a beer.”

“Andrew it’s barely noon!”

“It’s five o’clock somewhere, Joan!”

——

While Bucky went with your father to go pick up his parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and his niece and nephew from the airport, you headed upstairs to your old bedroom to lay down for a nap. You hadn’t been in there two minutes before there was a gentle knock on your door.

“(Y/N)? Can I come lay with you?” You sat up and smiled at your baby sister as you scooted back to the middle of your bed.

“Of course you can, Corrine. I will never, ever pass up on sister time, you know that.” She smiled and ran over to jump into bed in front of you since she hadn’t seen you since Christmas. You stretched your arm out for her to lay on and held up the blankets for her to get under as she snuggle in to find her spot in front of you. “Hey… so what’s going on with this boy, huh?” She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

“He's just stupid.”

“OK, but why did you punch him?” She looked away from you as her cheeks flushed the slightest bit.

“Go ahead and tell her.” Your mother said from the doorway as she, too came in to take a nap too, since Chelsea had taken her kids home for a nap as well before dinner.

“He said you deserved to get more than just a black eye.” You actually gasped and scooted back on the bed as your mother came over and laid down behind you.

“He was expelled at least.” Your mom said as she started rubbing your back. “And your father was raising hell…”

“But I should’a done more than just punch him…”

“No, you shouldn’t have.” You sighed as you bent your arm under her head to run your fingers through her hair. “Because violence is not the answer no matter the situation, you know that.”

“Yea but he was saying you should be ra….”

“I know.” You interrupted with a reassuring smile. “But look at it this way, honey. First of all, he’s just a stupid boy. And unfortunately for him, he will probably never grow out of that. But no matter what he says, it doesn’t impact me or you or anyone else. They’re just words. Just a combination of letters and syllables that aren’t going to physically hurt someone. It’s like me calling Chelsea a shit head. Sure, it’s not nice, yes, it’s hurtful, but they are just words. And second, and I never said this… but I hope you hit him really fucking hard.”

“That is not what second should be!” Your mother said loudly behind you as Corrine smiled. “Oh, you are a rotten child!”

“Hey, I’m just trying to take a nap here. I’m not a mother yet, that’s your job for now, ma’am. As the big sister, I say violence is bad but I hope you made it worth while.” Joan scoffed behind you as Corrine nodded her head in front of you. You shot her a wink and leaned forward to kiss the top of her head before closing your eyes to rest in the little time you had left.

“Let the record show she’s only grounded for getting suspended not the punch itself.” You and Corrine giggled at your moms confession as you pulled your sister closer to you in a hug. “‘Cause I’d’a punched him too.”


	6. Chapter 6

“George look, they got stars.” Bucky’s mom, Winnie said as she walked in to your parents living room and pointed to the picture that hadn’t been framed yet on the fireplace mantel. “What are they for?”

“Mom, sit over here.” Bucky said quickly as he grabbed the bag of gifts for his parents. She shot you a gorgeous smile, one that her son had obviously inherited from her, and sat down beside you like she was told. “Don’t open it yet.”

“You know, you are just beautiful.” Winnie said as Rebecca sat down on her mom’s other side and put her four year old son, Scott in her lap.

“Thank you.”

“I really rooted for you on the Bachelor but I am so, so glad that you didn’t win. When they made you the Bachelorette I knew you’d be perfect for my brother…”

“Bex! Take the gift.”

“For the record.” You giggled as Bucky finished passing out his family’s gifts. “I think I’m pretty perfect for him too.”

“Oh, you definitely are.” Bucky said as he came over with the last box, which was for your family and meant to go last so that it didn’t spoil the surprise for Bucky’s family. “Alright, go ahead.” You smiled up at him as he leaned against the arm rest of the couch beside you while his family all pulled out the same shirts.

“Oh, my God!” Winnie shrieked as she looked in the bottom of the box at the photo frame that read ‘Night sky over my future grand baby’. “You’re pregnant already?”

“Ten weeks.” Bucky said proudly as you opened the last box.

“We got you guys the same frames but we didn’t want to spoil the surprise when you put them out.” You told your mom as you handed her her ‘grand baby’ frames, handed Corrine her ‘niece’ frame, and kept Chelsea’s ‘niece’ frame in the box so it wouldn’t get broken.

“Oh this is so amazing!” Winnie said as she started to tear up. “More grand children.”

“When are you due?” Becca asked as she got up to give you a hug.

“November 22nd, so just in time for Thanksgiving.”

“Which means all of you better plan on coming to Thanksgiving in California this year. No plane rides for me.”

“Get’s me out of the snow.” George chuckled as he stood beside your dad against the kitchen island, nursing a beer.

“We’ll figure it all out when we get closer to the due date.” Joan placated with a smile as she looked up from her phone. “But Chelsea’s on her way back, and we have a dinner reservation to get to.”

“Oh! Where are we going?”

“Corrine picked Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs because she thought the younger kids would like it more than some of the other Disney restaurants.” You nodded your head and stood up with a smile as the two families started to mill around to get ready to leave. When your sister got there, you borrowed the keys to your mom’s van, loaded up Becca, Michael, Kim, Scott, Corrine, and Bucky, and followed your dad’s Civic and Jack’s Santa Fe to Disney Springs. Parking three cars near each other was a bit of a struggle, as was unloading four younger kids in a busy parking lot, but since this was a usual occurrence with your family, you were all pro’s at keeping your ducks in a row. The twins and Scott all had their booster seat backpacks on their backs and they all willingly held an adult’s hand to be lead to the escalators down to the Disney strip mall.

“It’s this way.” Andrew said as he took the lead since he was, in fact, the man who was a lead imagineer for most of the development of the Orlando parks.

“It’s almost weird to be out in public.” Bucky chuckled as he reached out to hold your hand. “We’ve been trapped in our apartments for months.”

“I thought it was just me.” You laughed in agreement.

“Aunt (Y/N)!” Allie giggled as she pointed out a Bachelorette promotional poster. You looked over at the sound of your name and pouted your bottom lip out with a nod at the Cinderella-esque gown you had on.

“I had someone steal some of the copies for me.” Joan said, proudly as she looked back over her shoulder at Becca and Winnie. “I’ll send one home with you.”

“Oh cause that’s not embarrassing what-so-ever.”

“What, because that girl not so subtly taking our picture was any better?” You frowned and turned around to see who Bucky was talking about, but you couldn’t pick out a face in the crowd as you headed in to the restaurant.

“Seriously?” Bucky nodded in confirmation and stopped with the rest of the group before following the host to one long table in a thankfully more private area in the restaurant. The twelve ‘adults’ and three younger kids all figured out how to seat themselves so that you and Bucky were in the middle of one side so that everyone was able to catch up with family that they hadn’t spoken to in five months and didn’t get to see often since you lived on the other coast.

“So Bucky tells us you all work for Disney.” Winnie started as she looked across the table at you, Chelsea, and Bucky and beside her at your parents.

“It’s in our blood.” Your mom said with a smile after she put in her drink order. “My father worked construction on Disney World since day one. My mother was a seamstress when the company opened and she taught me when I was growing up.”

“My dad was an Imagineer here at the same time. My mother was a stay at home mom. I was originally going to follow in my dad’s footsteps but Joan and I got pregnant with (Y/N) young.”

“She was actually born as an absolute surprise in the costume department. I was so young, I didn’t know what was going on but I knew I had to keep making money for my baby. But labor went fast, and she was ready to see the world…”

“OK, can we not relive this at the dinner table please.” You begged in embarrassment. 

“I became a vet for Animal Kingdom.” Chelsea said, coming to your rescue. “And Jack worked in a different part of the same exhibit as a vet as well.”

“And I started drawing Disney characters at a real young age. Instead of paying for day care, my mom and my grandma would sneak Chelsea and I into the costume department until we were old enough to go to school. I just drew what I saw everyday.”

“Wow.” Becca breathed on the other side of her brother. “You guys really are a Disney family.”

“Are you gunna follow in their footsteps?” Winnie asked Corrine with a small smile. She shrugged her shoulders and you and Chelsea both nodded your heads.

“She’s just a little too cool for school to admit it yet.” Chelsea teased as she reached across the table to pat your sister’s hand. She glared at the pair of you as the waitress made her way around the table taking orders.

“No matter what anyone says, the bill comes to us.” Bucky told her once she got around to you as you showed her your highly coveted silver employee ID, which you only got if you had worked for the company fifteen or more years.

“So now what do you all do?” Chelsea asked a little loudly over both your and Bucky’s parents protesting.

“Dad’s an OB-GYN.” Becca said as she leaned forward to see down the table. “Mom stayed home to raise us. I worked as a paralegal for Michael’s law firm until I got pregnant, then I choose to stay home with the girls.”

“Can I ask you guys something?” Michael said in the sort of break in the conversation. “Since we’re talking about kids and jobs and what not… do you guys have a plan for what you are going to do?” Becca quickly whacked his arm and Bucky choked on his water.

“We do, actually.” You said with a nod as you lightly pat your boyfriend’s back. “I’ve actually already talked to my boss, and he doesn’t care if I work from home as long as I go in once a week to check in and work with the rest of the people on whatever project I am on so it’s all synced up. And our child can come with me when I go in. They can either stay with me or go to the daycare. Bucky’s just going back to work as usual. His health insurance is better than mine, so he’ll claim the child on taxes until we get married- whenever that happens…”

“OK, how much do you guys really know about each other?” Jack asked and you could tell that he was so grateful that he had Emma on her booster seat backpack between him and Chelsea. “I mean, I’m sorry, it’s been what, four months and you’re already talking marriage?”

“Marriage isn’t something either of us plan on even really thinking about until we have been together at least two years.” Bucky said as he put his hand on your back. “Yes, we are getting engaged for the purpose of the show… but that’s all it will be; something for ratings that is in our contracts because of the shorter season. It is what it is, and we accept that…”

“Yea, but how well do you really know each other?” George asked as he leaned forward, which was the first time you had really heard him speak all night.

“Ask us.” You said as you put your hand on Bucky’s thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. “If you think there has to be a certain level of knowledge between a couple before a ring can be offered, as us those questions. I’ll give you his answers and he can give mine.”

“Impromptu newlywed game.” Bucky agreed as he took his hand off your back and moved it to hold your hand again. Your brother in law instantly pounced.

“How does he take his coffee?”

“Black.” You said with zero hesitation.

“Cream, no sugar. She prefers the Cold-stone creamer or Dunkin’ donuts creamer over anything else. Three count.”

“Starbucks order?”

“Black dark roast.” You said once more as Bucky shook his head.

“She hates Starbucks.”

“What side of the bed?” Becca asked with a smile.

“He’s closer to the door. Sleeps on his stomach.”

“Closer to the window and the air vent and she sleeps on her left side with her… right leg over my left knee and her left wrist in my left hand. Otherwise, we keep our distance…”

“Unless I get cold.” You finished.

“How are you planning on splitting chores?” Michael contributed as everyone else nodded their head, impressed so far.

“Laundry goes to me.” You started.

“I cook.”

“I got dishes, and dusting.”

“I got floors.”

“Bathrooms get split every other Saturday. Odds to me, evens to him.”

“What about when the baby comes?” Your mom chimed in. “Then what?”

“We just split the diapers when we’re both home, nights will just go back and forth.”

“And what happens if they get sick or have to go to the hospital?”

“Well she planned on staying home anyways so little sickness isn’t really going to be affected. If it comes down to having to go to the hospital, we’d work it out fairly as best as we could.”

“What’s her favorite color?” Stacy asked with a giddy smile.

“(Y/F/C).”

“And his is blue.”

“What is the first major project the other is responsible for?” Your father asked as he sat back in his chair.

“Trick question.” Bucky started with a glance over at you. “The first show she worked on was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Three episodes. First movie she worked on was ‘The Princess and the Frog’ but she caught the tail end of the project when another animator passed away so all she was doing was touching up lighting and such. First project she worked on start to finish was Secret of the Winds…”

“Wings.” You corrected as you took a drink of water.

“The Tinkerbell one where she meets her sister.” Your parents nodded as you set your cup down to answer.

“Bucky was part of the team that demoted Pluto because of Grumpy.” Your boyfriend smiled beside you and huffed a laugh as you brushed your thumb across his. “But he was responsible for launching the satellite that’s going to explore and collect data about the galaxy past Pluto and Eris since the technology on the original one wasn’t what it is now. He also discovered a planet like object that he named ‘Planet Badass’ like the goofball he is.”

“What are you gunna do if you get to the point where you start fighting…”

“Then we will go talk to people who know how to help people who are fighting.” Bucky said easily. “If we get to the point where we no longer can talk it out, we will find someone that can try to help before we give up.”

“You think it’s just that simple?” Jack asked, incredulously.

“It is.” You said with a nod as the waitress and two food runners brought over your food. “If you believe someone is honestly worth fighting for, tooth and nail until you are bruised and bloody, then it is that easy.”

“It’s almost disgusting how similar they are.” Your mom said to his mom with a shake of her head.

“They’re soulmates.” Corrine chimed in with a smile as she picked up her Rainforest Ricky mocktail.

“I think I would have to agree with you.” Chelsea said as she pat your back.

“OK, can we talk about something else other than our relationship? Like go back to getting to know each other, maybe.” You laughed as you picked up your fork to eat your ‘Planet Earth Pasta’.

“I second that.” Bucky chuckled as he cut the first strip of his steak off and put it on your plate since you always said yes to try his meal when he offered anyways so he had just gotten in the habit of doing that for you.

“Alright, interrogation over.” Your dad chuckled as you scooped some pasta onto his plate for the same reason.

“So disgustingly cute.” Becca laughed as she cut Scott’s mini cheeseburgers in quarters for him.

“Alright, leave them alone and eat your dinner, daughter.” Winnie laughed. “Their egos don’t need anymore attention.”

“Hey, whoa!” You and Bucky exclaimed with a laugh that the rest of the table joined in on before finally breaking off to give you two a break in the interrogation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Your mom, who was the only member of your family to come to the parks with you and Bucky’s family to get them in for free since everyone else had work (or was grounded), asked as you waited in line for a professional photo in front of the castle. You nodded your head as you gently tugged on the white tank top you had on that read ‘Bump’s First Disney Trip’ with a pink footprint and a blue footprint by your stomach.

“I won’t let them take away this announcement from us, Mama. They have had rules and demands for all the other parts of our relationship so far, and announcing my pregnancy is not going to be one of those things.”

“We’re just gunna post the picture to Instagram really fast once we take it so that there’s no way they can say no.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m not saying not to do it.” You mother said behind you as you straightened Bucky’s ‘This Guy Made The Bump’ shirt. “I was just asking if you were sure.”

“I think it’s a great idea.” Becca said happily behind you as she tried to keep her excited son beside her for their family photo since it was his and his sister’s first ever trip to the parks. “Just perfect.”

“Here Mom, take my phone.” You said as the group in front of you finished taking their pictures. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and gestured you forward as Bucky handed Michael his phone and his backpack.

“Alright, doll. Here goes nothing.”

“Yea, you’re telling me.” You laughed as you took off your sunglasses. With a glance over at him, you put your right hand on your hip, stuck your left hand out with an old, borrowed pacifier hanging off your finger, and popped your left foot up in what you called the ‘Rapunzel stance’ while Bucky got down on one knee on your right side, pointed at his shirt with one hand, and to the footprints with the other.

“Perfect!” Your mom cheered as the cast member laughed and took her own photos for you. “Give us a cute, normal one this time.”

“Joan, we are so far from normal, we can’t even see it on the map anymore.” Bucky laughed as he stood up. You took one of just the two of you, and one of a shared kiss before taking one with your mom and one last pair with his family with and without you in it. You thanked the photographer as you scanned all of the photos to your Magic Band (where your cast member silver card was linked) with the full intention of having them all put onto discs to send home with Bucky’s family.

“Hey, we’re grabbing coffee. Want one?” Michael called out as he gestured to the bakery.

“Black for me, Strawberries and Cream frozen whipped thing with a pump of mocha blended for her. Mediums.”

“Alright, let’s do this quick.” You said to Bucky as you stepped into the shade to see. “What is the caption?”

“Wait, I have it here.” He said as he pulled up his phone while you picked the best three photos of the pair of you. “So this is the miracle that I’ve been dreaming of.”

“Wait, no that’s your’s.” You said as you went back and erased what you were typing.

“Dreams do come true if you wish upon enough stars.”

“OK, you were right the first time.” You laughed as you glanced over at his screen. He read it back to you once more and you added your hashtags before minimizing Instagram to AirDrop him the photos as well. “Pick your three.”

“This is gunna cause chaos in Bachelor Nation.” He chuckled as he sent the photos and pulled them up on his account.

“Fuck it.” Once he copied your hashtags, you both took a deep breath. “Post it.”

“Coffee.” Becca said as she held out her brother’s drink in front of his face. “And a fruity… who knows what the hell this is.” 

“Cold drink.” You said as you watched the likes and comments almost instantly start to rack up. You turned off the screen and put your phone in the pocket of your leggings so you could take your drink with a smile. “So, which way are we going first, kiddos?”

“That way!” They both cheered as they pointed to the castle, which made things so much easier for the seven adults in your group.

“That way it is.” Winnie said with a smile as she took her granddaughter’s hand and headed in that direction through the crowd.


End file.
